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THE AGONISTS 



THE AGONISTS 

A TRILOGY 
OF GOD AND MAN 



BY 

MAURICE HEWLETT 

5' 



MINOS KING OF CRETE 

ARIADNE IN NAXOS 

THE DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 



O hapless race of men, who when they charged 

Such work, such wrath upon immortal gods. 

Begat what groanings for themselves, for us 

What wounds, and for our children's sons what tears! 

Lucretius, De Rer. Nat. v. 1183. 



CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
NEW YORK :::::::::::: 1911 



Oyyy^ 



n^ 



Copyright, iqii, by 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 



Published May, 191 1 




©CI 



.A28r)854^ 



DEDICATED 



I TO 



G. M. P. W.-E. 

1895-1911 



INTRODUCTION 

Here are three barbarous old tales treated 
dramatically, the first and most barbarous 
never so treated before, I should suppose; 
the second a favourite with the Italians of 
the Cinquecento, and the third the theme of 
tragic poets from Euripides onwards. Here, 
for the first time, they are related as they 
should be, so that, under one cover, the 
reader has, for what it may be worth, the 
fate of Minos and his family express before 
him. Primitive the tales certainly are; but 
they are in the great manner. It will be my 
fault, not theirs, if in the presentation of 
them here they suffer any eclipse. 

A good story well told will carry almost 
anything the author is capable of packing 
into it; and in these three, I must explain, I 
have wished to present more than legend 

vii 



viii THE AGONISTS 

alone. I have thought to find in them 
taken seriatim, and then together, a philo- 
sophical underflow which, if I have been 
rightly inspired, ought to be discernible in my 
music. There is an effort to express dramati- 
cally in Minos King of Crete, Ariadne in Naxos, 
and The Death of Hi ppolytus, respectively ^nd 
collectively, the fallacies which underlay the 
ancient conceptions of Godkind and Mankind 
and accounted for the ancient views of their 
relationships. You take, as a starting point, 
the three essential qualities of God to be 
Power, Love, and Knowledge, and admit the 
essential quaHties of Man to be the more 
excellent as they more nearly approach those 
of God; and you have in each of these plays an 
example of the failure of a typical personage, 
God or man, for lack of one or other quality. 
Minos was the son of Zeus, and failed be- 
cause, although he had Knowledge from his 
Father, he had not Power. In Ariadne in 
Naxos the God Dionysus is the protagonist, 
and his tragedy (and the woman's) lay in this, 
that he had Power over men, but could not 
win their Love. Lastly, in The Death of 
Hippolytusy we have a case of Love without 



INTRODUCTION ix 

Knowledge — that is, self-knowledge. Collec- 
tively, the trilogy presents a tragic story of the 
failure of God to implant himself in man, and 
of man to receive into his nature the divine 
substance; and the inference, or one of them, 
is, or may be, that the divine qualities can only 
mate with human faculty in the ideal presented 
to mankind in the Incarnate God of the 
Christians. To my mind that is clear. I hope 
some day to complete my trilogy with an Epi- 
logue concerning the Passion of Christ. So 
much, then, for the under-current of this work, 
never obtrusive I hope; for I realise exactly 
that a play cannot succeed upon philosophical 
excellence. If the story is dramatic and the 
numbers give it due lyrical expression, the 
philosophy may be interesting in itself and 
may enhance the interest in the plot; but 
otherwise it can avail the poet nothing. 

I should like to add a word as to the 
versification, to which I have, in every line, 
in every phrase, endeavoured to give an 
immediate, personal and musical impress. 
I mean by that that the prosody has varied 
throughout with the mood of the personages, 
and as the dramatic situation called forth 



X THE AGONISTS 

natural lyrical expression. There is no 
metrical system, consequently, but that con- 
ditioned by the subject; yet I believe that, 
read aloud and as a whole, each play will 
induce a specific mood, a specific kind of 
emotion in the hearer. Believing as I do 
that all poetry must be addressed to the ear, 
as it is undoubtedly composed, I shall not deny 
that I have aimed at a totality of impression 
and have considered more the beauty of 
the whole than of the parts. Nor shall I 
deny that Wagner's method in opera has 
seemed to me entirely applicable to poetical 
drama. Wagner's libretti were written on a 
strict metrical system; but his music was not. 
In my plays I have followed faithfully, I 
believe, the music which I have certainly 
heard, but am incapable of rendering otherwise 
than by rhythm. All that apart, I have never 
been able to see the propriety of expressing 
an infinite variety of moods in one con- 
ventional measure. Here, surely, poetry 
may borrow from prose without ceasing to be 
poetry. The burden of the iambic penta- 
meter has been too many for the poets — and^ 
it seems, for their hearers. Now all I ask 



INTRODUCTION xi 

of mine is that the verse be read to them as 
prose, with the stresses where they would 
naturally fall, and full value given to the vowel 
sounds of ordinary speech. If this rule be 
observed, and the indicated pauses followed, 
the three plays ought to be revealed as verse. 
I composed them in 1895-6-7; have 
tinkered them at intervals since. Finally I 
have thrown them back into the melting-pot, 
and they have emerged as good as I can make 
them. 

London 191 i. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Minos King of Crete . . . . i 

Ariadne in Naxos 87 

The Death of Hippolytus . . .169 



I 

MINOS KING OF CRETE 



THE ARGUMENT 

King Minos of Crete claimed to be the Son of Zeus, 
who as a Bull had carried Europa, his mother, thither. 
His title was Son of the Bull, and that was the 
cognizance of his House. Now in the seventeenth 
year of his reign Poseidon sent a white bull out of the 
sea to tempt him. Instead of offering it in sacrifice to 
that great God he caused Daedalus to devise a labyrinth 
at Cnossus in which to keep it. Then the curse upon 
his House began. His wife Pasiphae sinned mon- 
strously, and was delivered of Minotaur the monster, 
scourge and devourer of the Cretans. King Minos 
aghast, but knowing nothing of his wife's guilt, went 
to seek counsel in the next year of his reign of his 
Father and Lord on Mount Ida: for such was his 
custom every ninth year. While he was on his journey 
home to Cnossus, Queen Pasiphae died. At this 
moment the play begins. 



PERSONS 

Daedalus, the Athenian. 

Graulis, nurse to Pasiphae. 

A Priest of Zeus. 

Cretan Elders. 

A Huntsman. 

Minos. 

Priestess of Artemis Dictynna. 

A Messenger from Athens. 

A Second Messenger from the same city. 

Scene 

The sea-wall at Cnossus. In the centre of the wall 
a watch-tower. Right, the King's House with the 
Judgment Seat. Left, Shrine of the Oracle of Artemis- 
Dictynna. 

Time 
Before Dawn, then Sunrise. 



MINOS KING OF CRETE 

As the curtains open Daedalus, sharp against the 
sky, is seen motionless on the watch-tower, looking 
eastward over the sea. The wash of the waves on the 
beach below the wall is all the sound heard. Presently, 
from the King's House comes the sound of low but 
continued wailing, as of women mourning. Daedalus 
lifts his arms out, holds them so, then drops them in 
despair. 

He folds his cloak about him, and speaks, looking 
over the sea. 

Daedalus 

Watchman, wait thou and watch; 

The night neareth her death. 

With her the wicked and weary aHke 

Make an end of moaning, sleep and forget; 

[He pauses, opens his cloak and lifts his hands. 

And the sun sweetens the world! 

[He lifts his face and turns his cheek to feel the wind. 

A wind shivers the sea: with dawn 

The King should come; from the Gates of 

the Sun, 
He and the Dawn together! 

5 



6 THE AGONISTS i 

He stands looking out in silence. The wailing of 
women in the house rises in volume and strength. 
Daedalus is aware of it now. A long note as of a 
trumpet; then silence. Daedalus thrills and listens. 

The wicked and weary shall end their 

moaning. 
The King come from the house of God — 
He and the Dawn together! 

Graulis comes quickly out of the King's House, 
holding high her hands. 

Graulis 
Daedalus! Daedalus! Daedalus! 

Daedalus 

I am about the death-bed of the Night. 
Who calls ? Who comes between me and 
my dead ? 

Graulis 

Death has been busy. Come down. 
O Daedalus, come quick! 

Daedalus 

Thou, Graulis! 
Stay, I come down. 

He comes down from the wall and meets Graulis. 
She has covered her head, she bows it, and stretches 
out her hands like a bhnd woman feeling for the way. 
Daedalus watches her gravely. 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 7 

Daedalus (very grave) 
No need to cover thy head. 

Graulis (whispering, in haste) 

Daedalus, come with me! 

Daedalus 
No need to peer upon me. 

Graulis 

1 implore, I implore 

Daedalus 

The sick breath of the night 

Reads me thy rune. 

So she is dead! Died mad — 

Loathing herself! 

Speak, is that true ^ 

Graulis 

She is dead, Daedalus. 
Ah, man, have mercy! 

(Lifting hands and voice) 

Golden Pasiphae is dead! and we 

Orphaned of so much light! 

Ai, ai! my lovely one, my lovely head! 

[She rocks herself about. 



8 THE AGONISTS i 

Daedalus 

Out on thy whining, woman. Thou and I 

know 
How lovely her Hfe was, and whether blest. 

Graulis (shocked) 

Hush, O hush. 
Blame not the dead. 

(Brokenly) 

She loved me, who was lovely, and is dead. 

Daedalus 

(Recoils, then snatches her wrist with fury) 

Lovely, thou fond old fool! 

Lovely! whose hot sin 

Made Heaven shudder, and Crete cower! 

Made me a dog, and Minos 

Byword of shame among men. 

(Abruptly breaking o£F) 

Tell me, old fool, of him 
I dare not name — that thing 
This lovely mother has made. 

Graulis (in terror) 
Hush, for God's pity! 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 9 

Daedalus 
But thou shalt speak 

Graulis (whispering) 

Safe! 

Safe in the web thy cunning wove for her 

sake — 
Safe while Crete feedeth it — 

Daedalus 

With blood! 

Graulis (after a pause) 

She died mad, craving the sight 

Of that which her womb — of that dread! 

Daedalus 
Of her babe, thou wouldst say ? 

Graulis (wildly) 

Ah, no, no! O God 

Daedalus turns his back on her and paces the scene. 
Graulis comes after him to tell him the tale. 

Lovely she was, and loved me, but died mad, 
Not knowing of her sin, nor her sin's fruit. 
Nor me, who knew of both, and loved her 
still. 



10 THE AGONISTS i 

After that wild hour 

When her dire anguish made a child of her. 
And floated all her terror and her sin 
Out in a tide together — she wailed all day, 
"Ah, Graulis, GrauHs, hold me, let not go, 
My two hands, Graulis!" So she moaned 

all day, 
And all the long hot nights, but never saw 
Who held her, stroked her hair, tendered the 

cup 
To her dry lips. . . . And she was my child, 
Fostered upon my breasts! Shall a mother 

hold back 
When her child cries ? 
Wilt thou talk of her sin 
To me, her mother, that loved her ? 
Out on thee, childless wretch! 

All day, all night she clung and moaned for 

me 
To come — and I was there! 
"Graulis!" she wailed, and "Graulis! 

Graulis! 
Come to me!" I, who was there! 
Who never left her! 
Only, in all that house, I loved her. 
Only in all that house, she knew not me! 
At last, as one that could bear no more 

sorrow, 
Nor separation from me, whom she loved — ■ 
And I there, holding her! — 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE ii 

She threw her two arms out, as a child, 

And wailing, "I am thirsty, give me drink," 

Ere I could feed her, sighed her breath away. 

And lovely lay 

As if sin were not, and she 

The last born sister of her children — 

My Queen Pasiphae — dead! 

Daedalus 

Dead of her sin. 
And in sin, dead. 

Graulis 

No man could look and think sin. 
Nor her rebuke. The perfect are a law 
Unto themselves. Refuse her not 
The peace she testifies. 

Daedalus 

Her sin is lead about her neck — 

She drowns in it, and drowneth this land, 

Tainted by her. 

Graulis 

Judge not thy benefactress, man. 

As for me, 

All my old breath shall honour her. 

(Quickly) 

And what of thee — that helped her ? 



12 THE AGONISTS i 

Daedalus 
Helped her? 

Graulis 

To hide her horror — ay! 
Ay! and to make her horror. 

Daedalus 

What of the King, thy master and mine ? 
What of King Minos, coming home with 
dawn ? 

Graulis 

What of him, servant of Minos, 
Served as thou servedst him lately ? 

[Daedalus stands confused. 

(Eagerly) 

Will he be served by tales of the dead ? 
How shall it serve him to scorn the dead ? 
Or tell the tale of the Sin ? Thou durst not 
Deny the rites — thou durst not. 

Daedalus turns away and hides his face. Graulis 
watches him intently. Presently he uncovers and 
looks skyward. 

Daedalus 

I loved her, she was lovely: let the rites 
Be fully done, that so her soul go down 
Decently to the windy house of the dead. 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 13 

Then, when they see the stains upon her, 
And Hell is silent, one shall say, O Lord, 
King of the dark, this was a Queen: 
She beareth sacrifice, her hands. 
Her wicked body, are washed in water: 
Take her, she was lovely, and loved much. 

[He pauses, then adds grimly 

And was much loved, God knows, and over 
much! 

[He turns to Graulis. 

If thou wouldst hide these things, do the 

rites now. 
Set up the pyre, anoint, dress her fairly 
In virgin white. So let her pass for a 

Queen, 
Not carrion. 
Then meet Minos, Searcher of hearts! 

[Graulis goes swiftly into the house. 

A little while, O Crete, 

And Daedalus, thy knave, must take his 

wages. 
Find the dark road, and journey it alone. 

The shaping hand, the spinning brain. 

The joy of his toil a man may take, 

Soul, Soul, are these in vain ^ 

Heart, must thou break .? 

Her heart to my heart leaned and spake 

In urgent whisper and low. 



14 THE AGONISTS i 

"Do this sm for my body's sake!" 
O lovely body that I loved so, 
O vile heart, that dared not know 
Wreck of body and brain — 
Nor thy toil vain! 

He stands mute in despair. The Priest of Zeus 
comes out of the shrine. 



Priest 
Dost thou watch, Daedalus ? 

Daedalus 
The morning breaks. 

Priest 
With comfort, or promise ? 

Daedalus 
The King cometh not. 

Priest 
Then is the End upon us. 

Daedalus 
There is Death: pray to him. 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 15 

Priest 

Minotaur hath more pity, 

For he would end Crete in one drench of 

Death; 
But the Gods kill slowly. 

Daedalus 
How long can we endure ? 

Priest 
Minotaur feedeth apace. 

Daedalus 
Death comes but once 

Priest 

Shall a man live, with his fate 
Burning before his face ? 

Daedalus 

He that knows he must die. 
Does he care if he live ? 

The funeral procession of women, bearing Pasiphae 
uncovered on a bier, comes out of the King's House, 
and passes over the stage to a wailing chant. 

Priest 
One dead! 



i6 THE AGONISTS i 

Daedalus 
Dead, dead. 

Priest 
What dreadful stroke ? 

Daedalus 

Ask me not. Death is busy here. 
Better die quick, as she died. 

Priest 

Yes, for to wait, 

To wait wide-eyed, worketh madness. 

[He sings of the terror of Crete. 

Men dare not meet each other 

For fear to read the grief, 

And weep to see it, and drown 

All manhood out; but each 

Goeth apart with his mantle over his face, 

And letteth the pain gride. 

Hanker and grope in his heart; 

And setteth his teeth, lest his brother 

See his pain, and utter a cry. 

And a whole city go weeping. 

So he endureth, till night 

Cover him up from his brother's sight. 

Look to the shore. What seest thou there ? 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 17 

Daedalus (on the wall) 

I see the dust of the surf. 
The trees stir not; birds float 
Nested upon the waters. 

[Smoke goes up from the sea-shore. 

A soul goes shuddering out, Hke a prayer. 
Pray for it. 

[The rim of the Sun comes up from the sea. 

Priest 

Lo, lo, the Sun! 

Your prayer is heard. Minos returns, 
Heartened by secret lore — 
Knowledge gotten of God. 

Daedalus 

Send so! For if he knows, what need to 
tell .? 

Priest (inspired) 

Nine years have waxed and waned 
Since our Lord sought his Lord 
On Ida, treading where 
No foot of man might dare. 
The thicket hushed by God. 
Four cycles of such scope 
Have crowned his sacred head 



i8 THE AGONISTS i 

Since he, our final hope, 
Took up the godHhead 
His father gave. As a sword 
He weareth Zeus's word. 
And as a kingly cope 
Lieth King Zeus's dread 
On Minos, Son of Zeus, 
Minos, Son of the Bull! 

Daedalus, who has been watching, now sees a 
procession at hand. 

Daedalus 

Make now your prayer. See — 

The Cretan Elders come to meet the Dawn. 

Priest 

Go down to them 
While I cry to the Sun. 

Daedalus 

Nay, I have other work. Let Crete save 
Crete. 

Daedalus comes down from the wall and goes 
slowly into the King's House. The Priest turns him 
to the Sun, and prays with lifted hands. The Elders 
enter, singing the Parabasis. 

Chorus 

First I salute you, Hills, 
Guardians of Crete, with brows 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 19 

Careful and hands uplift: 
Thee, Dicte, beneath whose moon 
Dwelleth the Goddess, the lonely one; 
Thee, Dicte, from whose bare crag, 
Casting her delicate treasure 
Seawards, the maid Britomartis 
In death found life. Next to thee, 
Ida! whose haunts great Zeus 
Knew and still loves. 

You also, 
Cydonian, Sea-Sentinels, 
Sisters who, linkt in ice, 
With glittering crowns arow, 
Watch while night on the heels 
Of day followeth and cloudeth them. 
O ye dread haunts of God, 
Pathless, dim and untrod, 
By men adored from afar. 
By that great strength ye are, 
Holding your steadfast way 
Through good and evil report. 
Through tempest and our dismay, 
Through blinding snow and frost — 
Ye that only abide 
Mid chance and change, for no man 
Knows, nor his fathers have told him, 
When ye were not as now — 
Listen, each haunted place, 
Ye hills, each quick with a God, 
Listen! most evil case 
Is on us; our feet have trod 



20 THE AGONISTS i 

The steep that leadeth astray 
By pain from the clear way; 
We have sHpt in our own blood, 
And day draggeth on day! 

Terrible rumour is heard from the city. They draw 
closer together, and whisper to each other. 

How shall I tell the story, 

The crying fear ? 

The watchman dead at his post, 

Stiffened with fear as a man bitten by frost! 

Doom in the thick air! 

[A loud cry. Then silence. 

The sound of a voice in fear! 

One shrill cry like a trumpet blast — 

And again — and again! 

The Guard called out, the Assembly in haste. 

The panic, the rain 

Of voices— "I saw it!" "O hush yeV 

"Tis here!'' 
"Make fast!'' 
"Are the children past?" 
"Are they safe at home?" All the stifled 

pain. 
The open dread 
Of men shamefully dead 
Lies about Cnossus, darkens her ways. 

[Another cry, with the scream of a woman. 

Minotaur! Minotaur! Minotaur! 
Blood-feeder, raving, insatiate 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 21 

Lecher for flesh! 

Curious lust and inordinate 

Hanker for delicate meat! 

Sweet blood, light breath. 

Virginal breath he needeth; 

Day after day he feedeth 

Upon the treasure we cherish! 

Child after child of ours, 

Fruit of our love's flowers, 

We must see perish! 

Not our paid Hves 

Whose work is over and past he craveth — 

More than that a mother will spend 

For the life she loveth. 

To die that it hve! 

We have fathers to give 

Their joyance of days for the sons they 

begat — 
But Minotaur slayeth more rarely: 
Leaveth the sire, leaveth the dam 
For the little lamb — 
Slowly, surely, ravenous, taketh him! 

Their fear gives way to repining. Then with a 
common impulse they turn imploring to the Shrine of 
Dictynna. 

Queen of the Hills, O Maid 
Stainless, the unafraid, 
From whose grave, tender eyes 
Light as of evening skies 
Shineth and sheddeth balm 



22 THE AGONISTS i 

On men! O quiet and calm, 
Thou who with bent down head 
Dost stand above the bed, 
And with thy torch's hght 
Direct the newborn sight 
Unto thy holy face. 
That its first view be grace — 
Hear us and help us Thou, 
Maid of the open brow! 

They stand with stretched-out arms, as if expecting 
a sign; but none comes. Then they turn to their 
philosophy. 

Seeing to none 'tis given 

To read wisdom from Heaven; 

Seeing the Gods reign 

Neither pitying our pain. 

Nor stooping, rather pursuing 

Their sport in our undoing — 

It doth become us, earthwise. 

To You, Hills, to lift our eyes; 

Loving the ancient law. 

To fold us within your awe. 

Win strength from your strength to abide 

What fortune us may betide. 

They now turn their faces above the city to the 
ramparting hills. 

O ye hills, grant us your patience; 
O hills, your peace be upon us! 
May the good Gods of the hills 
Lay benediction upon us! 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 23 

The Priest, his prayer finished, joins the Elders 
and speaks with them. 

Priest 

Sons, ye do well to call upon your hills, 
For there She wonneth who is Lady of them. 

Chorus 

Hymnia called, best praised in song — 
Seeing her breath is music. 

Priest 

This load shall lift and pass 

With the King's coming. 

He, Minos, alone 

In Ida's thicket, there 

Alone with his father Zeus, 

Gains secret wisdom from him 

Of cause, and purpose, and law — 

Evil and Good to see, to weigh, and to 

choose. 
Burdened with which awful freight 
He Cometh — peace to ensue. 

Chorus I 

Great is Minos! But see — 
Who is this newcomer ^ 



24 THE AGONISTS i 

Chorus II 

Bringing the smell of woods 
And dust of country ways 
Within these tainted walls! 

Chorus I 

This is some uplander, 
Huntsman grim with weather, 
Who not as a townsman walks. 

Chorus III 

Nay, but as master of Time, 
Not the pitiful slave. 

The Huntsman has entered the city. He is the 
embodiment of earthy simplicity and plain dealing. 
The Elders watch him, and converse in undertones as 
he looks deliberately about him. 

Chorus 

What needest thou 
In the King's Gate ? 
What dost thou seek 
With thy steady eyes ? 
Is it a vow 
Of love or hate 
Draweth thee on. 
Purposeful, 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 25 

To the strong tower 

Of the House of the Bull ? 

He comes towards them: they await him now in 
silence. 

Huntsman 

Tell me if this is Cnossus, that the House 
Of Minos, King in Crete. 

Chorus 

An hundred cities hath Crete, 
Lordship from sea to sea, 
Whereof the frontal jewel 
Is Cnossus; wherein thou art — 
Cnossus: for here King Zeus, 
When he had stemmed the flood — ■ 
God veiled in the girth 
And silken hide of a Bull — 
Splendid lover, abode 
With the white maid 
Europa, chosen and set 
Apart to be mother of Kings, 
Sons of God ! Here our Lord, 
Splendid lover, saw light 
Flutter and fill the eyes 
Of Minos, glory of Crete, 
Son of the Bull! 

But thou, who art thou ? Whence come .? 
From what outland, to seek him ? 



26 THE AGONISTS 

Huntsman 

From Ida come I, from the forest, 
To meet this Minos. 

Priest 

From Ida, thou! Dost thou know 
The holy Mount, and the Grove 
Sacred to Zeus, where no man 
Dare tread, lest he meet with God ? 

Huntsman 

I know the place, and that God 
Walketh in secret there 
Unshadowed by Sun. 

Chorus 

Seek Minos there. 

There he walketh with God! 

Huntsman 

Betimes I left it; the moon 

Shone in the trees. I saw no man. 

Chorus 

How should St thou see 

King Minos, walking with God! 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 27 

Huntsman (slowly) 
Walketh Minos with God ? 

Priest 

Each ninth year he is rapt 
Deep into Ida; and God 
Breathes upon him, and pours 
Wisdom into his ear. 
Then he comes home a God — 
God to Crete and this people. 

The Huntsman ponders this saying in silence, lean- 
ing upon his spear. His questions following are very 
slow and deliberate, the answers quick and eager. 

Huntsman 

And now on Ida he walks — 
He, Minos, with God ? 

Chorus 
A Son, he walks with his father. 

Huntsman 

Nine years ago he walked 
Ida .? Minos with God .? 

Chorus 
A son, with his father Zeus. 



28 THE AGONISTS 

Huntsman 
Minos alone! 

Chorus 

Alone with God. 



[A pause. 



Huntsman 

I need to see this Minos. 

[The Elders are amazed. 

Chorus 

Thou ! What is thy need ? 
Is it a grief.'* A sin done? 

Huntsman 

Grief, a sin, a wrong done; 

A price for blood, 

A life for a Hfe: 

These I require of Minos. 

They enquire of each other dumbly, then volubly 
of him. 

Chorus 

Thou hast a blood-feud smouldering. Against 
whom .? 

Huntsman 
Minos, the wise king, shall point him out. 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 29 

Chorus 

Who shed this blood ? Knowst thou the 
man ? 

Huntsman 
That Son of God will know him. 

Chorus 

Yet I would learn thy grief. 

[A pause. 

Huntsman (incisively) 

Britomart's was my grief: 
My sister, she. 

The Elders shrink back. All know the tale of 
Britomartis. 

Chorus 

Alas for her! Alas 
For thee, O friend! 

The Huntsman rehearses his tale of Britomartis, 
as in a reverie. 

Huntsman 

On Dicte, fronting the sea, 

Standeth the House of the shining One, 

Artemis, Delian-born. 

There served her Britomartis, 



30 THE AGONISTS i 

Virgin-witness, my sister, 
Vowed to the Virginal Goddess, 
Patroness of the pure. 

Chorus 

Artemis hath her now — 
Comfort thee, friend. 

Huntsman 

We, in our father's house, 
Dwelt on Ida; and saw 
(White as her soul) the shrine 
Heading the sea, as peak 
Looks upon peak from afar. 

Chorus 

Dicte and Ida, twin holds 

Of Godhead ! Speed with thy tale. 

Huntsman (slowlier) 

Upon a day 

My sister left her charge, to keep the feast 

Of the New Wine at home. Ere next day 

dawn 
She left our hold : I watched her on the way 
Go down the valley by the winding road, 
Over the river bed, and by the bank 
Slow-climbing, breast the steep 
Where Dicte fronts the sea. 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 31 

(Quickening) 

I saw a horseman ride fast, 
Draw rein beside her, and stoop, 
Snatch, Hft her up, drive spurs 
Deep — carry her off 
Over the windy hill. 
I saw her plead with wild arms, 
Flung back head, streaming hair — 
Vain! He had her. But she. 
Sudden, shook free, and on wings 
Fled down the wind, he pursuing. 
Husbanding his long lust. 
Dicte she clomb, whence the sea 
Lies far below, without sound, 
Deep-twinkling, not resting, 
Surging, drifting for ever! 
To that dim sea she held out 
Wide her piteous hands. 
Making her moan and prayer, 
"Maid of all maids, take me, 
Hold me fast!" O'er the steep 
Into blue air she launched 
Her soul's frail raft — and from Ida 
I wailed her name, and still wail it! 

[He pauses, then resumes. 

And he, ravisher, thief. 
Rode his desolate way, scourging the earth 
As a black squall whippeth the sea. 
But I shall meet him: life for a hfe. 



32 THE AGONISTS i 

The Elders respect his vendetta, but try their 
philosophy upon him. 

Chorus 

Britomart's ghost, querulous, 

Men say, still flits about 

The precinct where her heart 

Was fixt, and in the night 

Her prayers sob round the aisles. 

So the haplessly dead, 

Pluckt too soon from the earth. 

Haunt it still, living again 

Unsubstantially there! 

Priest 

Man's spirit never v^holly leaves the earth 
Until the debt he oweth, and the debts 
Not paid him have been balanced and v^rit 

ofF. 
Often-times we are debtors to the dead. 

Huntsman 

There is a debtor to my dead 
Not quit. Minos must pay him. 

Rumour swells as the stage lightens with the sun. 
The Priest sees the palace doors open and the slaves 
come out to lay a carpet on the steps. He points his 
hand towards them. Rumour, as if from the house, 
swells and gains volume. 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 33 

Priest 

O timely, timely is Minos! 

Even as our lord the Sun 

Out of the eastern gates, 

So from his Golden House cometh the King. 

Set thou thy grief on his knees, 

Friend. Be sure he can lay 

Thy dead, so her sobbing and wailing 

Flit not the night through round the eaves. 

The Huntsman withdraws himself to the shadow of 
the wall, where he waits and watches. 

Chorus 

Would that our grief could find as easy a 

cure! 
But Death done gentlier weighs than death 

to come. 

Priest 

Yea, it is Minos! O come, 

Let us fall at his feet. 

As to a pitiful father and wise. 

Chorus 

His glory is Hke a cedar 
Dominant in the forest. 
Whose branches still the air 
And roots hold earth in fee. 

Minos comes out of his house and faces the people. 
All raise their hands as to a vision of God. 



34 THE AGONISTS i 

Chorus 

Stand fast for ever, chosen of Zeus! 
Son of the Bull, fast for ever! 
Lord of Crete and the Islands, Son of the 
Bull! 

What, are my eyes so dim, 
Is their light gone out ? 

Is a God come, dreadful, with thunder- 
shout ? 
Nay, thou fool, 'tis the Sun cometh out 
To shame the darkness and doubt. 

[They hold out their arms to him, imploring. 

Give us our dead, Minos! 
Give us peace and our dead! 
Peace that in elder days 
Spread the v^armth of her eyes. 
The rose of her welcoming mouth, 
Gladdened us, praying to her! 

[The Priest bids them silent. 



Priest 

The King speaks from his high throne! 
Wisdom hath found her an house; from the 

gates of his lips 
She poureth her embassies forth. 

[Minos, standing up, speaks. 



MINOS KING OF CRETE 35 



Minos 

Sons, for I call you sons, 
Sons whom my father Zeus 
Laid on the fragrant lap 
Of Crete, your mother, and bade me 
Cherish you as I loved her! 
See now, through fair and foul 
Seasons I gave ye my days. 
All the worth of my manhood, 
Fruit of my age and blood. 
Statecraft, lore; add to that 
Counsel got from my father. 
That ye might prosper. But now, 
Seeing ye prosper not. 
Seeing that peace which ye had 
Is no peace, fast have I been 
In Ida, with Zeus my father. 
Spending the dew of prayer. 
Watching out nights and days, 
Yearlong watching! And lo. 
Our Lord in the forest breath, 
Adown the trees whispered. Go thou 
Back to thy House; seek Dictynna, 
The shining One, for a sign. 
Thus come I from his knees 
To her knees; thus will I do. 

The people keep silence. The Priest voices their 
anguish. 



36 THE AGONISTS 



Priest 

None too soon, Minos, thy sign. 
Minotaur ravens; our children die. 

Minos crosses to the Shrine, mounts the steps and 
stands before the altar. They light the altar-fire. As 
he makes his prayer he pours on wine and scatters 
frankincense. 



Minos 

Let me speak now, for lo! 

The sun is broad on the world. 

Give me drink-offering; cast down 

Your poppy crowns on the floor. 

Pouring the wine now, I say 

To thee, Dictaean, the white. 

The perfect, whom we of all Gods 

Know best and oftenest invoke 

At each new moon, behold! 

In an acceptable time 

My prayer for light, since clear light 

From Heaven's threshold spreads on the 

world. 
Surely the time is ripe. 
Goddess! I, being old, 
With dreadful knowledge instored 
Of dreadful deeds, can no more 
Drag my fardel, but set it 
Down, and my sons set down 
Theirs, and await thy word. 



MINOS KING OF CRETE 37 



Priest 

Ah, swift and secret! Ah, Huntress, 
Who when the night is high 
Rangest abroad through the brake 
Euboean, or where the hills 
Like unto silent waves 
Beset green Arcady! 

O steadfast and sure, O holy, 

O grey-eyed Maiden far-seeing, 

O lovely as light on the hills, 

O kind as the sun on the hill-tops! 

O clear and pure, to whose beam 

Is given to cleave things hid 

In men's dark souls — lift now 

The shroud of pain from our heads! 

Like as the wretch who in fever 

Turneth his aching eyeballs 

In thought to the water meadows. 

And in thought slaketh his tongue 

In running brooks, so thy children 

Stifled in sin, crave 

One pasture-fragrance from Thee 

Who savourest earth and blessest it. 

All wait expectant. The veil of the Shrine is pulled 
back by invisible hands, and the Priestess, shrouded all 
but the face in white linen, is seen swaying above the 
tripod. 



38 THE AGONISTS i 

Priest (aloud) 

Lo, the unveiling! 
Fire and mist! 

Minos » 

Speak, Goddess! 

Priest 
Hush, for she speaks! 

The Priestess speaks the Oracle, in a monotone, as 
if by rote. 

Priestess 

The voice of the fire in my voice 

Speaking to you, Crete: 

Because ye have made choice 

Of sin, v^ith tears shall ye eat 

Ashes and dust for your meat. 

And salt blood for your wine. 

Ye have chosen with Hell your seat, 

Saith the Goddess, instead of mine; 

And that law is a law divine, 

Where soweth a man he shall reap. 

How shall ye ask a sign, 

Saith the Holy One, while ye weep ? 

Work, work, ere ye sleep. 

Hold ye the ancient road; 

Tho' stony it be and steep. 

Ye shall win if ye take it, saith God. 

The road that your fathers trod. 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 39 

Ye shall be saved if ye run — 
But woe upon woe till the blood 
Of the Bull be drained and done. 

The Oracle is slowly veiled. Confused murmurs 
beset the crowd, in the midst of this Minos utters a 
cry, and all are silent. 

Minos 

The bull's blood! Lo, my sin 
Rises and shakes his head. 

Chorus (murmuring) 
What blood of what bull is this ? 

Minos 

The bull's blood! Thou art stern, 
Poseidon, shaker of earth. 

Priest 

What wit save thine can fathom 
The rune we have here ? 

Minos (to himself) 

How shall a man know 
Fate in his deed .? 'Tis done; 
From it grown rank, like flies, 
Issues innumerable 
Spread spores of death! 

The j>eople buzz among themselves, while Minos, 
heard only by the Priest, moralises. 



40 THE AGONISTS i 

Chorus 

When the word went forth, like an arrow in 

flight 
From a ventureful bow drawn to its height, 
Even as the struck eagle reels, and the night 
Filmeth his eyes, the King in his state 
Droops; and his panoplied might 
Drags on his shrunken limbs, intolerable 

weight. 

Minos (aside) 

Be sure a man's sin must out; 
Time not hide it, nor pomp 
Of deeds glorious. Below 
His broad raiment his limbs. 
Starved, naked, behold! 

Chorus 

I know that the mind of a man is a sherd 
Stored with knowledge like wind; for his 

word 
Bringeth no deeds to pass. Nay! as a herd 
Of kine passion driveth our wits 
Hither in panic, thither when lust is stirred — 
And Care the fisherman setteth his nets. 

Minos (aside) 

Too old am I, that with face 
Of brass I should bid fall 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 41 

Dire mischance, sooner than shame 
Confound me. Nay, an old man 
Knoweth his strength. 

Chorus 

Care the fisherman lays his net wide 
Where the water hisses and spurts with the 

tide. 
Man in that sea, haggard-eyed, 
Recketh not how the mesh edgeth him in, 
Creepeth, clingeth about his side. 
And the flood brimmeth up to his chin. 

[The Priest holds up his hand 

Priest 
Peace, for the King will speak. 

Chorus 
Peace, let the King speak. 

Minos (slowly) 

I did a violence to God, 
To Poseidon, when swoln with heat 
Of renown I wagered against him 
Power for power, and knowledge 
For knowledge: man against God. 

Poseidon sent a white bull from the sea 
To tempt me. Now the time was at hand 



42 THE AGONISTS i 

When lining the shore we invoke 

The Sea-God and the Nymphs to bless our 

increase, 
Offering sacrifice 
A yearling bull, unblemisht, white as the 

foam, 
Even as this one, sent to tempt me. 
Now therefore came the Priests to where I 

sat 
Solemn in judgment, saying 
*'0 King, Poseidon needeth back the bull; 
Crown him with laurel leaves and let him 

die, 
That smoke of him ascend and all be well." 

Thus they, but I whom Zeus delights 
To honour, shipt dishonourable thought 
Of that old Sea-God lurking in the deeps; 
Hardened my heart. 
Sent them empty back to their rites. 
To fruitless altars and foodless fires; 
And kept the bull to crown my herds 
And be a standing glory — like a wreath 
Of flowers set on a chapless skull. 

Poseidon waiteth patient like the sea 

That draws all men to serve it late or soon, 

And calls me now by terrors on my head, 

Ringing words hounded about the sky, 

"Woe upon woe, till the bull's blood 

Be out." The bull's blood! God is wrath, 

And ye have paid in blood and tears 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 43 

What only I should pay. If I, being King, 

Sinned as a King, so kinglike I say 

I am King enough to be ashamed of shame. 

Let Daedalus win out 

This white bull from the hold his wit 

devised; 
Bring him out, set a wreath upon his neck. 
Gild him the horns and slay him, that the 

blood 
Smoke over sea, and the sea be fed. 
Let one seek Daedalus. 

A bystander goes into the house. The Chorus face 
the sea, while Minos stands broodingly. 

Chorus 

The sea is inexorable. 

More than all the masters of men; 

For the wind that furiously rideth, 

The storm's war before which man hideth, 

The Earthquake's tearing and rending 

A sudden pit for life's quick ending — 

What are such deaths but a flash in a pan .? 

Ah, but the patient sea 

Ripples innumerably, 

Laugheth quiet and slow 

From ebb to flow; 

Bideth his time till the extreme hour be run. 

Then he calleth the sea-farers one by one. 

While the People chant this chorus, Graulis and 
Daedalus come out of the house and kneel before King 
Minos. 



44 THE AGONISTS i 

Minos 

What is this, Graulis ? Leavest thou thy 
mistress ? 

Graulis 
Lord, Lord! 

Minos 
How fares thy mistress and my Queen ? 

Daedalus (quickly) 

Well, Sir. 

She was tired, but sleepeth now. 

Minos (to Graulis) 

Speak thou. What seek thine eyes ^ 
Look upon me. 

Graulis 

Sir, thy glance troubles me. Thou art high. 
And I am lowly, a slave. 

Minos 

Thou art shorn, woman. Thou mournest — 
whom ? 

Graulis 
Nay, 'twas a fever I had. Thus they rid it. 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 45 

Minos 

What smoke of sacrifice went up 

As I rode hither ? 'Twas dense in the air. 

Graulis 
They burn sea-wrack at the water's edge. 

Minos 

What wailing heard I of women ? 
What cries to Heaven ? 

Graulis 

Sea-birds' cries, clamorous 
About the harvested sea. 

[A pause. Minos reflects. 

Minos 

I would that I saw thy mistress. 
Lieth she still abed .? 

Graulis 
Still, my lord, very still. 

Minos 

Stirred she not when the heralds 
Shrilled me upon the walls ? 



46 THE AGONISTS i 

Graulis 
So deep she was, she stirred not. 

Minos 

Let her wake now. 

[Graulis is silent. 

Answerest thou not ? Why earnest thou ? 

Graulis 

Sir, I know not — Oh, Sir — 
Oh, Great King 

Minos 
What then .? 

Graulis 

I may not waken her. 

Minos 

Thou art not yet so old that death were 

sweet; 
Nor will it serve the Queen 
That thou die, and I waken her. 
Do thou my bidding. Hence! 

Graulis goes out with bowed head. Minos turns 
to Daedalus. 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 47 

Athenian, servant of my will, 
Heed thou me. 

[The agitation of the People grows. 

The Goddess spake above the altar flame, 
Murmurously through the thick smoke of 

the fire, 
"Woe," said she, *^upon woe. 
Woe upon woe till the bull's blood be 

out/^ 
I take the sin upon me, since I have sinned. 

[The People mark Daedalus' confusion and silence. 

Daedalus 
The Bull's Blood! 

[He stands aghast. 
Here is no sin of thine. 

Herein is Fate. 

[The agitation of the People breaks out. 

Chorus 

Ah, would that some green brake 
Of fern and leafy tree 
Hid up and sheltered me! 

Minos 

Ay, but the sin was mine! 
Poseidon calls for the bull. 
The white bull from the sea. 

[Daedalus says nothing. 



48 THE AGONISTS i 

Now if I slay him and pour back his blood, 
Shall not the curse be out? 

[Daedalus says nothing. 
Speak thou! Shall it not be out? 

Daedalus 
Not so, Minos, not so. 

Minos 

Not so ? 

Chorus 

O that some warm sweet wave 
New freshening from the sea 
Might wash and quicken me! 

Daedalus 

That white bull which my v/it, 
Quickened by thy decree, 
Kept from the sea, his master 
In secret hold, hath begot 
Offspring terrible, strange. 
Not out is the blood by the death of the 
Sire. 

Minos gazes at Daedalus, and in a dead silence 
questions him. 

Minos 
Where is the young of him, Daedalus ? 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 49 

Chorus (slow and urgent) 

O wave, O breath of the wind, 
O ye hills calm and free, 
Make me strong, nourish me! 

Minos 
Where is the young of him, Daedalus ? 

Daedalus 

Safe, while ye feed him on Cretan lives. 
The Labyrinth holds him fast. 

Minos (aloud) 

Minotaur! (Pause.) And the Dam .? 
Speak! 

[Dead silence. 

Daedalus 
The dam died — of late. 

[Minos ponders him terribly. 

Chorus (low and urgently) 

O plumed Night, O Death, 

Cover me silently. 

Hide me, encompass me! 



50 THE AGONISTS i 

Minos 

Dark are thy words, but more dark 
The thoughts that throng me, and press 
My pulses to wild surmise. 

[He stops there, then asks suddenly. 

What of the Queen ? Where is she ? 

Daedalus 

The Queen is dead. She is dead. 
Ask me no more. 

[Minos draws back and looks terribly about him. 

Chorus (in terror) 

Clamour is round me of sin not to be named. 

Hissed from shooting and hidden lips; 

Hints, intervals of doubt. 

Wailing, unrest! 

But silence is worst of all — 

When the dread powers of the dark 

Gather, crowd and pass over 

Like birds in a winter night! 

Minos starts forward and clutches Daedalus by the 
throat. 

Minos 

Dog, here is work of thine! 

That which thou didst for Son, didst thou 

for Sire. 
And the dam, Daedalus! 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 51 

Minos holds Daedalus shaking by the throat, and 
speaks to him fiercely, while the People wail and toss 
their arms. 

Chorus 

The seed of man was sown 
In the broad lap of the Earth: 
So she conceived and gave birth. 

Minos 

Pasiphae is dead. And thou, 
Shalt thou live, Daedalus ? 

Chorus 

Earth was he, body and bone. 
Of Earth's blind ways, her dehght. 
Clinging to sight. 

Minos 

What shall be done to such — 
A trafficker in women, Daedalus ? 

Chorus 

But his blood and his breath 

Were wilder than aught that dwelleth in clay. 

Liquor of God were they. 

Minos 

Thou that didst cage the bull to serve her, 
Shall his seed not fatten on thee .? 



52 THE AGONISTS 

Chorus 

Fire-fraught was his blood, 
Hiding a fire, seeking more fire 
For food of its whole desire. 

And the tide of his blood 

Surged against the walls of his veins. 

Maddened his reins! 

That most fatally dowered, 
Prometheus, of all men's seed, 
Lifted up restless eyes 
From our most gentle earth. 
And sought the glint of the skies. 
And stole immortal fire. 
To our immortal woe. 

For that keen flame of Heaven, 

Swifter than glancing light 

Or leap of sound, than the air 

More subtle, than day more bright — 

Thought! which to God is given 

Creative, is our despair. 

And a weight we cannot bear. 

It flickereth in the brain, 
It throbbeth in the heart; 
Before its flashing our eyes 
Dazzle; we reel and go 
Whither our hot thought flies. 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 53 

Up to the deathless Gods — 
O Fools, it is vain! 

Man is a cage of pain, 
His thought is a pure thin fire 
That beateth against the locks 
And bonds of his grosser part, 
Astrain for the sky. And behold! 
The flame roareth and rendeth, 
And the war nor stayeth nor endeth. 

Then at last when the bars 

Of the body, shattered and torn. 

Rend asunder, the flame 

Winneth the bitter stars. 

And man lieth prone in shame: 

Better not to be born! 

Minos has released Daedalus, and stands in deep 
thought. The Huntsman now advances and confronts 
the King. The People remark him. 

Who moves ? Who presses forward ? 

Watch that man. 
What needest thou 
In the King's Gate ? 
What seekest thou 
With thy sunken eyes ? 
Hast thou a vow I 
Is it love or hate 
Draweth thee on. 
Purposeful, 



54 THE AGONISTS 

To the strong tower 
Of the Sons of the Bull ? 



Huntsman 
Minos, thou wise King, heed me. 

Minos 
Who art thou ? 

Huntsman 
Grief that cries solace. 

Minos 
Cry not in vain. 

Huntsman 
Justice thou art. Do justice then. 

Minos 
Rehearse thy plaint. Who art thou ? 

Huntsman 

One set apart 

To one fixed work. 

Blood calls to me for blood. 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 55 

Minos 

A blood-price ? For what blood ? How 
shed ? 

Huntsman 

A virgin shed her own bright blood. 

Minos 

By her own act slain ? 

What blood for blood self-shed hast thou ? 

Huntsman 
His that made death her need. 

Minos 
Who wagers her his life ? 

Huntsman 
I wager. 

Minos 
And if thou diest ? 

Huntsman 

I stand for the right. I die not. 
Artemis points my blade. 

Minos steadfastly regards him without speaking. 
Presently he changes the theme. 



56 THE AGONISTS i 

Minos 
Not every huntsman pleaseth Artemis. 

Huntsman 

True. He that hunted down the maid to 

death 
Pleaseth not her. 

Minos 

Palterest thou ? 
What is thy lot in this .? 

Huntsman 
My sister was the maid. 

Minos 
Speak plainer, who this was. 

Huntsman 
Her blood was Britomart's. 

The King starts back, and his eyes at first meet the 
Huntsman's, then quail. The People observe it. 

Chorus 

The King shrinketh, the man scorches him 

down! 
As fire eateth a beam. 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 57 

So advanceth the gleam 

Of his hot-set eyes ! 

Mark Daedalus. What is this thing 

Come to confront the King ? 

Minos speaks as if unconscious of his whereabouts, 
as a sleeper to a shape in his dream. 

Minos 
I know thee not. 

[The other leaps forward, transfigured with rage. 

Huntsman 

Man, thou knew'st Britomart! 
Judgment, thou Son of Zeus, 
Son of the Bull! let thy blood 
Wager against my blood! 

The People are amazed. The Priest tries to move 
them. 

Priest 

Blasphemous, highland dog! 
Shall my ears not bleed .? 

Huntsman 

Let the King speak. 

[But the King is not ready. 

Chorus 

As elms in autumn show a hint of fire 
Ere all their goodly green is set in blaze, 



58 THE AGONISTS 

And give to flame their topmost boughs, 
So is our good lord's kingly calm 
Ploughed by contorted pain 
That shudders over him and dies again 
Under his sovran v^ill. 



But this dark tale of violence done 

To Dictynna's consecrate one! 

This wild old tale of passion 

Shaking the seat of the soul's possession! 

How shall I hear it and stand 

Armed to defend the Cretan land 

In the old fearless fashion ? 

The Priest reasons with the People, and then 
exhorts Minos. 

Priest 

His sudden frenzy marks him out possessed: 

How else dare such contempt ? Oh, turn. 

Turn, Lord! Smite on the hip 

This dog that snarls at honour! Strike 

This blasphemer! Up, Minos! 

Son of Zeus, stand up! 



Chorus 

It is well said, it is well said. 
Is Minos a King for nought ? 

[Minos stands forward, now again master of himself. 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 59 

Fast for ever, chosen of Zeus! 
Son of the Bull, fast for ever! 
Lord of Crete and the Islands, Son of the 
Bull! 

What, are my eyes so dim, 

Is their light gone out ? 

Is a God come, dreadful . . . ? 

[The People falter and stay, as Minos begins to speak. 

Minos 

Neither denying, nor grudging 

Thy full requital of blood ; 

Excusing not, nor accusing; 

Making no haste to slay. 

Neither to save thee, I give thee 

All thy desire. Take up now 

In battle thy blood-feud. Not vain 

My Kingship, nor yet in vain 

The lineage of Zeus, and my lineage 

Shining within my Son. 

Behold, I wager my Son, 

Androgeos. 

The People murmur. Daedalus starts and looks 
at Minos. 

Huntsman 

I am content. 
Yet if thy son fight 
This battle of thine, he dies — 



6o THE AGONISTS 

And the Bull's Blood be out. 
As it was foretold. 



Chorus 

The Bull's Blood! O thou fool! 
Knowest thou thy saying ? O fool I 



Daedalus 

Let not my Lord say so, let him heed. 
Androgeos hath no charm'd Hfe. 



Minos 

Daedalus, tempt me not further, 
Seeing thou diest. 

Daedalus 

Let me die 

Speedily, that I see not 
That which must come to pass. 
Dying, I pray the King 
Wager not here his son. 



Minos 
How not .? 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 6i 

Daedalus 

Lest the Oracle 
Be sooth, and his son win 
A wreath of blood, and himself 
A crown of pain. 

[Minos stands in doubt, seeing the man's eagerness. 

Chorus 

The whole is not yet told — 

The King draweth his breath 

With labour between his teeth; 

But the slave is bold, the Avenger bold. 

Minos comes down from his throne and takes 
Daedalus apart. 

Minos 

Thou hast a darker message, 
Not yet told. Now tell it. 

Daedalus 

It is revealed, a wrong 

Was done to this man's kindred. 

Minos 

Fever, belike, in the blood, 
Unsubjugate, might sting 
Desire. 



62 THE AGONISTS i 

Daedalus 

Ah, desire! Wild heat 
In the blood. Heed the Oracle. 

Minos 

The Bull's Blood! What is this .? 
Speak, be swift. 

Daedalus 

O King, 
The bullish blood is not out. 
Nor a bull from the sea redeems us. There 

needs 
A cut more deep. Earth shall age 
Or e'er th' intolerable load 
Of the flesh be cast. Ours the blood 
Wherewith we drug us the spirit, 
Clog up with lime his wings, 
Daub him the eyes. O vile, 
Servitude base, to achieve 
Lust, and devise new lust! 
How shall it cease till we cease ? 

Minos 

Thou bold in words, 
Thou spinner of webs. 

How shalt thou mesh me f What bull's 
blood 



MINOS KING OF CRETE 63 

Have I, save the strain 
Immortal of Zeus, 
That made glorious my mother 
And made Crete glorious ? 
Am I not Son of the Bull ? 



Daedalus (fiercely) 

Thou knowest, thou sayest. 

What BulFs Blood is there but thine ? 

The Goddess foretold it. 

[Minos reels, then strikes down Daedalus. 



Minos 

I have the power to slay thee where thou 

liest. 
Anger me not, lest I stretch 
My hand out, and death come down. 

Daedalus 

Death and I, wrestlers, stand 

At grips, and I read his eyes 

In the hush of pause. Listen, I read 

Thy fate, O Minos, in them. 

Priest 

Read thou thine own, and shift 
A way from thy trap, Daedalus. 



64 THE AGONISTS i 

Daedalus 

To no man is it given to read his fate 
Lest, aping God, he strain law's majesty 
Which may not set back Doom once fixt. 
But at death's point he does foreclose 
A partnership, and shares Death's great 

design 
Ere yet accepted. 

Fate, like a sea, 
Rises and falls, the same 
In difference, immutable. Is there a man 
Whose veins the ichor of God 
May bear, and not madden, and die 
Frenzy-bit ? Or can a man 
Stand undazzled such light 
As rayeth streaming from God ? 
Can a man, being God, bear with men — 
Having God's mast'ry, his haste. 
Dreadful splendour ashake on his front — 
His motions, his white light, 
Unageing youth in old flesh 
Weary of sin ? O never 
Hope that consummation, Minos! 
Be man, be God — but not both. 
That is denied thee. 

[He half rises up, strengthened by his gospel. 

Nay, thou unhappy, thou God encaged, 
Thou wretched mortal maddened by God 
If thou art God enough for our ruin, 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 65 

Enough of man to clog thy forehead with 

shame, 
How shall the God in thy seed 
Battle thy sin for thee, man ? 

[He looks about him despairingly, then sinks down. 

It shall not be. Thou saidst well. 
Goddess. Woe upon woe 
Till the Bull's Blood be out — 
His, this God among men and man among 
Gods. 

[He points the last words at King Minos. 



Chorus (horror-struck) 

Gods, Guardians of the earth! 

And ye, O nameless Ladies of Dread! 

Let not the head 

Bow down to the terrible words he said. 

Nor accept the monstrous rede. 

[They exclaim upon Daedalus. 

O art thou shameless, wretch ? 
Hast thou no knee to bend. 
Will thou slander thy friend ? 

Minos 

He slandereth God my father; 
He condemneth himself. 



66 THE AGONISTS 

Yet I can pause 

Before I slay thee. Tell now 

Thy warrant for this thou utterest. 



Daedalus 

This is revealed — it shall come to pass 
Ere my tired heart sigheth free my breath, 
Thy son shall seek him a grave 
And funeral rites in vain. 

[All are hushed in fear. Then the People pray. 



Chorus 

Sea, and our Earth! 

O well-loved Earth, do thou be clement, 

And thou, O Sea, whose heart is Crete, 

Bear thou the young man home 

To his father's halls! 

[Minos has recovered himself. 



Minos (to Daedalus) 

Thou hast o'er-reached — like a stoat 

Biting the trap-teeth that clutch him. 

My son is King ^Egeus' guest 

In Athens, seeking her Olive Crown, 

Sunned 'neath her golden arts. 

For his high head awaiteth 

No shameful end in unconsecrate death — 



I MINOS KING OF CRP:TE 67 

Him rather Fame like a mantle 
Binds to be one with Honour and Us. 

[He turns to the Huntsman. 

Comfort thee, seeker of blood-price. 



Huntsman 

Let blood be paid for the price of blood. 
I ask the full, fair price. 



Chorus 

The price of the strong! Minos is strong. 
Strong as a tower his House! 

Rumour without. The Priest exclaims, pointing 
with his hand. 



Priest 
Look yonder! The people! 

[All look. The Chorus voice the general agitation. 

Chorus 

See, see, a moving crowd, 
A vext concourse, a multitude 
Spreads from the shore with faces turned 
To greet the flags of the King! 



68 THE AGONISTS i 

And lo, in the hiving midst, 

One breathless, sorely spent. 

Struggling with friends, on this hand, on 

that, 
Stain'd with travel — ^yet proud content 
Lighteth his brows, flames from his happy 

eyes — 
News, Minos, good news! 

A Messenger enters with following. The stage fills. 
He kneels to Minos. 

Messenger 

News, Minos, is mine! 

The race, the race, the swift steeds, 

Glory of Phaestos! The deeds 

Of Androgeos! Wine — I crave wine. 

That I pour libation to all Patrons of Crete ! 



Chorus 

O ministry of thy feet 
Jocund! O augury 
Of great and high Destiny! 
Minos, the cup is full! 

Minos 

Not in vain didst thou rear the House of 

the Bull, 
Zeus my father! Not vain 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 69 

My quest of Helios, parent of light,^ 

Lord of the light that shone in the flame of 

thy head, 
Pasiphae, queen and wife. 
Mother of children, blest in thy children's 

life! 

[As he names Pasiphae there is a sudden hush. 



Chorus 

Pasiphae! where is she? 

Minotaur ravens — O King, have mercy! 

[The Priest intervenes. 



Priest 
Praise we the Gods! 

[Minos in ecstasy of pride. 

Minos 

The Gods! I am a God — 

Son of all-seeing Zeus! See to him, there — 

Give him meat and drink — anoint his feet 

With wine and oil; heap a shield 

With golden treasure; let flocks, 

Fatlings and firstlings be his. 

Let his name be glorious, call him 

1 Father also of Pasiphae 



70 THE AGONISTS i 

Augur of Minos; let his place be set 
High at our table, who hailed our son 
Olive-crowned, Victor! 

[He turns fiercely to Daedalus. 

Ho, thou 
111 mist, scowHng upon us, 
Darkener of days, thou boaster! 
Gird, twist thy fork, scorpion! 
Lo, the World-Disposer, 
Disposing of thee, maketh sport 
Of thee and thy mumbUngs there. 

Zeus, Hke a fresh wave, 

Brimmeth the harbour bar, 

So the dead water, stirring, 

Feeleth his might and swims 

To th' extreme verge, and life springs 

And motion where first was scum. 

Too soon, Daedalus, thy claw 
Put out, to rake in the heart 
Of Crete! Ah, Attic fox, 
Whose eyes shifted and turned. 
Devising snares — now hide 
In deeper maze thy disaster. 

Feed now the jaws thou wouldst feed 
With Crete! Ha, be done with him! 
Hale him to Minotaur! 

[They seize Daedalus, and hold him. 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 71 

Daedalus 

O Minos, I am ready. Do thy will. 

A state of exaltation in Minos infects Priest and 
People. 

Minos 

As the judgment of Zeus 
Is my judgment; let none 
Question or raise finger up — 
Till he drink of the cup 
Himself hath mixt, 
And his doom be done. 

Priest 



Ah, faced as a fox. 
Ah, heart of a sheep! 
Behold now the fowler 
Caught in his net; 
The jester's dry eyes 
Aching to weep. 

Chorus 

The fall of his pride 

Is as Phaeton's. 

He sailed far and wide, 

His wings were the sun's. 

But his cunning behed him, 

His art was denied him. 

And his sand-glass runs. 



72 THE AGONISTS 



Daedalus 

As the striver washt clean 

Of blood and sweat; 

As the bridegroom whose fret 

Is o'er, and the bride-chamber set* 

As washt in CaUirrhoe's runnel, 

Let the Bride not delay — 

Even Kore the Queen. 



[Daedalus is led out by guards. 



Priest (as Daedalus goes) 

Doth fear gripe thee, wretch .? 

Art thou little at ease ^ 

Doth thy nostril 'gin twitch. 

Dost thou shake at the knees .? 

Lo, the King armed with dominion 

Hath struck. Zeus remembers his minion. 



Chorus (more thoughtful) 

Tho' I shudder his name, 

Yet must I pity 

The vials of shame 

He endureth, whose city^ 

Wears the helmet of fame. 

[Minos cries out in triumph. 

' Athens, of course. 



MINOS KING OF CRETE 73 



Minos 

Make now a feast to the Gods, heap high 
The altar-floors! Now let the priests 
Whet their blades, let the victims 
Smoke on the hundred altars! 
Let music shrill — let the strings 
Shrill like the wind, and thrill 
Our hearts. I, Minos, make 
Thank-offering to the Graces! 
Ho, bring the blossoming crown, 
Crown me ministrant! Flute-players, 
Wind your high music higher. 
Make keening melody! Kindle 
Fire upon Ida's brow! 

A shadow falls over the city and Minos falters 
suddenly. 

What now ? Why doth the music 
Fade ? Who hideth the sun ? 
Who cometh ? Who cometh now ? 



Chorus 

Who is this, haggard and wan ? 

Who cometh with jaded and weary feet ? 

A second Messenger stumbles in, and drops at the 
feet of Minos. 

Who art thou, shadow of sorrow ? 



74 THE AGONISTS i 

Second Messenger 
Minos, have mercy, have mercy! 

Minos (still exalted) 

Mercy is mine to bestow. What is thy 
need ? 

Messenger 

My need is thine, and this people's, and 

hers — 
The flame-circled Lady, Pasiphae, Child of 

the Sun-God. 

As before, at Pasiphae's name there is a movement 
in the crowd. 

Chorus 

Pasiphae — where is she ? 

Lady of terror, and burning and fierce 

meditation, 
Crisping, uncrisping her hands! 

[Minos is still blind in his pride. 
MiNOS 

Stress and anguish are gone. Crete is great, 
Free, favoured of Heaven, proud 
Of my son ! 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 75 

Messenger 
Woe for her burden! Woe too for me! 

He looks about him at the people with flowers in 
their hands, brought for the thanksgiving. 

What feast do ye celebrate here ? 

Chorus 

New praise for Crete, the Crown of the 
Water! 

Priest 

A new crown for the fruit of the Sun-God's 
daughter! 

Minos 

A new wreath for the brows of the Son of 
the Bull! 

The second Messenger takes up authority— his 
message making him great. 

Messenger 

Cast down your garlands, put away your 

lutes, 
Your reed-pipes and your crowns. 
Take dust to crown yourselves, shred off 
Your tresses, women; and, ye maids, 
Let loose your coifed hair. 



76 THE AGONISTS i 

Not for love do it, nor a bridal, 
Save Death be bridegroom. Lo! 
Ready is Death, sitting hereby in the gate, 
Sightless his eyes, fast in hand the dish 
Seeking an obol, seeking his toll. 
Give him his tribute, Minos, and you, 
Crete! 

Chorus (murmuring) 
Oh, oh, what is this that he saith ? 

Minos 

Hush there, and cease your murmuring. 
Speak. 

Chorus 

O King, O Daedalus forsook! 
O Queen of the fierce blood ! 

Minos 

Who speaks of them ? The dead are dead. 
Daedalus is dead. 

[He turns to the Messenger. 

Rumour of thee 
Ran on before thy breath could frame it. 
Empty, therefore, thy phial of woe. 
That we may drink it, and live 
Like men thereafter. 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 77 

Messenger 

Sir, the Athenians 
Murmured against thy son, 
And at his triumphs murmured. Then 
When he, begarlanded and anointed, 
Drove home from broad Eleusis 
His conquering team, a throng 
Of youth, their treacherous eyes 
Guarded by Hnen bands. 
Sprang from a thicket, and set 
On his company, three to a scorel 
Critas they slew, Menocles 
With stones, and Androgeos, the young 

man 
Thy son — him they slew and ravaged. Then 

tied 
His feet, thy son's feet, to the car, 
And hued the horses and cried; and they, 

mad 
With fear, went headlong in gallop 
The dust of the track; and by terror 
Made frantic, leapt the rock rampart, 
And fell- 
Horses, and car, and hero, 
To their end in one red grave. 
Now let me die; for no man 
May utter such things and live. 

He goes out through a way made by the people, who 
fear him. Minos stands shaking. 



78 THE AGONISTS i 

Chorus 

O King, the tortured soul of Daedalus 
Rises and weeps to see us! 

[Minos stands shaking. 

What said that man tormented ? 
Spake he not true? Alas! 

Priest 

The viperous Athenian went 
Deathwards, foretelHng wretchedness. 

Chorus 

Woe to the father, woe to the mother! 
Woe to the kindreds of the great House — 
The House, the House of the Bull! 
Ariadne, Phaedra, woe to ye! 

Minos still shaking, Graulis appears from the 
house, sees the horror on all faces and comes quickly 
down. She peers at Minos who sees nothing. 

Graulis 
What is it? What is it? Quickly! 

Chorus 
Knowest thou not ? 'Tis Androgeos — 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 79 

Graulis 
Dead ? 

Chorus 

Dead. Tell thy mistress — 

Graulis 

She needeth no telling, nor heedeth it. 
She is acold, hugging herself. 
O Minos, Minos, King of wretchedness, 
Hear me and strike me down! 

[Minos pays no heed. The People swarm. 

Chorus 
Ha, Gods, ye have not ended. The Queen — 

Graulis 

Dead, Cretans, and well dead, 

Seeing this stroke was hers. 

Her scheming — and thy agonizing, lord! 

Priest 

The King stands dumb. What hast thou 
more ^ 

Graulis 

She is dead, but her child Hveth — 



8o THE AGONISTS i 

Priest 
Her child ? 

Graulis 

Her child. Minotaur. 

The Chorus is shocked to silence. Presently it 
begins on a hushed note, which grows in volume. 

Chorus 

Clamour is round me of sin not to be 

named, 
Hissed from shooting and hidden lips; 
Hints, intervals of sound, 
Sobbing, unrest. 
Unrest is worst of all 
When the dread powers of the dark 
Gather, scream and pass over 
As birds on a winter night. 
Shriller than birds in a storm, 
More vacant, more desolately 
Cometh the clamour of sin not to be known ! 

[With wild hands uplifted. 

O haven of Dark, O plumed night. 
Fall on us, blot our name from the light! 

And thou, Pasiphae! 

O woman, wrecked and stained, 
Is there a shame on earth 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 8i 

Thou hast not borne ? Or woe 

Or old inveterate sin 

Older, more hard than thine ? 

Now no swift hint of love 

And honourable things 

Can flush thy shameful cheek, 

Nor to thy frozen eyes 

Bring redemption of tears. 

She is cut off in sin's flood-tide. The best 
Were silence, the grave, and rest! 

Minos slowly gathers his force and confronts the 
Huntsman. 

Minos 

I am now old, who a little while 
Ago was hardy, and full of blood. 
Thou, Stranger, must take thy battle up 
With me — unequal war. 
For now I have no son. 

Huntsman 

The price is paid. I ask 
No more, nor asked so much. 

The Huntsman goes out with bent head. Minos is 
consumed with the rage of despair. 

Minos 

There is a price to ask 

Of Athens, Gods! I am King 

Of Crete, Minos, the Bull's Son. 



82 THE AGONISTS i 

Take you a torch, dip it in fire. 

One lights a torch. Minos goes up on the sea-wall 
and holds the brand out over the sea. 

Hear now, ye Cretans! Ye men, 
And young men, soon to be Cretans, 
Ye women, mothers, and all ye virgins 
Who look to bear Cretans! Hear all. 

By the blood of my father, 
Zeus, by the altars, the hearth 
Where his shade dwells; by Crete, 
By her hold of th' inviolate sea, 
Athens shall smoke in blood-fray; 
Waihng shall fill her streets, 
But no live thing. A voice 
Shall she be, a wounded voice. 

Yea, like a woman tortured, 

BHnd and mad, she shall kill 

Her children, and smile at stabbing. 

Then wake, beat her breast, loathe herself. 

But still with wet, cruel hands, 
All that she holdeth dear 
She shall slaughter with craft malign, 
Till not one remaineth, but she — 
Moaning, writhing her Hmbs. 

I make war 

Henceforth on Athens, that year 
By bitter year she shall waste 
Her flowers to feed my hate. 



I MINOS KING OF CRETE 83 

By black sails borne they shall come, 

In keels bodeful and black; 

And Minotaur feed, so he 

May prosper in gluttony, 

And we feed with him our hate. 

This is the doom of Minos, 

Son of Zeus, testified 

By this torch, and the fire of it, 

Unquenched while Athens stands up. 

He stands, the torch shaking in his hand while the 
People pray. 

Chorus 

Grant, Gods, this doom bear not 
Some fatal, double sense. 
And so our wreck come thence 
Where we had looked to win 
A crown. Alas! man crowned 
Remaineth man, his doom 
Recoileth often to spring 
Back to the doomsman, and he 
That judgeth is convict found! 

Who is so wise to know himself, to say 

To his soul. Thus far 'tis safe for thee, seek not 

Beyond thy little hedged ground I 

Who knoweth himself bound. 

Or knowing it, accepteth the decree 

Which, when it set man free 



84 THE AGONISTS i 

Of all else, fixed him slave of his own whim, 
Tyrant whose subjects soon outmastered 

him ? 
Such wisdom standeth not with the force we 

have : 
He only that beareth the brunt of himself is 

brave. 



II 

ARIADNE IN NAXOS 



THE ARGUMENT 

The hero Theseus, having (with the help of Ariadne, 
daughter of Minos) slain Minotaur and so freed Athens 
from the yearly tribute exacted by Crete, sails thence 
for his own city, taking that same Ariadne with him for 
his bride. He had promised King ^Egeus his father that 
he would send a ship before him, with a white sail, if 
he should have been fortunate, instead of the black sail 
with which the tribute vessel commonly returned. 
That, however, he forgot to do ; so that the ship came 
in bearing the ensign of misfortune. On his home- 
ward voyage Theseus stays at Naxos, an island of 
Magic. The God Dionysus speaks the prologue. 



PERSONS 

A Maenad. 

Dionysus. 

Chorus of Cretan Maids. 

Theseus. 

Ariadne. 

An Athenian Sailor. 

The Scene 

A sandy bight in the shore of the island of Naxos, 
with the sea at the back. On the right is a grove of 
plane-trees, in which a stone altar. On the left are 
rocks and profuse vegetation. The season is the 
Spring. Flowers abound almost to the water's edge 
and are to be seen starry beneath the plane-trees. The 
sky is flawless blue, and the pathway of the sun 
glitters on the sea. 



ARIADNE IN NAXOS 

At the opening of the scene the stage is empty, and 
so remains for a while. Then there is a flash of 
lightning out of the clear sky, and immediately a 
thunder-clap, which, after, rolls among the unseen hills. 
Three figures are now before the scene, as if proceed- 
ing from the altar-grove to a thicket on the left. The 
first is a Maenad in short, looped-up tunic, and with 
streaming hair. Her head is thrown back. She carries 
a thyrsus in one hand, a dead kid in the other. The 
central figure is Dionysus, crowned with ivy, wearing 
his leopard-skin. He has the semblance of a smooth- 
faced, ruddy young man of great stature. Behind him 
is a Faun, naked to the waist, goat-legged and footed. 
He has a pan-pipe in his hand. 



The Maenad 

Bacchus is lord of the length and breadth of 

the earth, 
Red as wine, brighter than honey, ruthless 

as rain. 
lo! Zagreus! Regent of storm and pain! 

[She stands rigid, as in ecstasy. 
89 



90 THE AGONISTS n 

Dionysus 

From my still haunts of brooding and dreams, 
In mortal cerements, I come forth 
To light on men, and shed over earth 
With sleepy spell my will inscrutable, 
To this my island, fear-haunted, 
Where priests with pious hands and orgy 
Call up the dance through wintry nights 
And shake the dawn with fire more fierce 

than the sun's, 
Fire in the heart! Here as a mist 
Desire-laden, sick with torments 
For unused folk, I lie in wait 
Glamour to cast through all quiet ways. 
Through tangle of briar, thro' drencht 

herbage. 
On sundew thick, on restless floods. 
On scarred mountain-flanks, on the crannies 

in them. 
Peering for me like eyes. 



O'er the mad earth then, through leagues of 

air, 
I pass to men's dweUings and steep their 

blood 
With hinted joy and bHss surmised. 
Seasonal raptures, such wild love 
As only in dreams men know with women. 
So Hke the beasts, filled with me, 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 91 

Headlong speeding, frenzy-gathered, 
Mouthing they fall, torn by their longing, 
Indiscriminate, prone, possest; 
And my hot breath blows and passes, 
Blows over and passes, and leaves them 
swooning. 

For not as the high Gods, 

Not as the great Twelve 

On hoar Olympus throned and pure, 

Am I whose dam, the pale wife, 

Semele, casting mortal love 

On her fruited womb, cast human tinge 

On me her fruit, with grief acquainted. 

Grief of a God, past human thought. 

Is mine, and Desire, desire of a man 

Shared with that earth whereof she was — 

Bound thereby to desire and pain. 

I am the Earth, its longing, its torment, 

Flood of the spring, summer drouth, 

Fall's foreboding, dearth of winter: 

These am I. Lo! and I move 

Swift in the blood; for in my dreams 

Virgins unsex, men in stress, 

HuddHng as herds, run to their woe. 

Till passion dies, and they reach the end of 

desire. 
Boundless oblivion, dreamless sleep. 
So I watch, croucht like a beast. 
At this first shrilhng call of the year 
To utter myself, and to be. 



92 THE AGONISTS n 

Not long — for Theseus, the great captain, 
In triumph turning from perils past — 
From Minotaur sent shaggy with blood 
With his dead to mingle — homing to Athens, 
Wedded with her, the fast-girdled 
Soft Ariadne, loving and loved, 
Calleth here: whom now I await 
In trembling thicket, with eyes agleam. 
To bend her body to work my will; 
Drive my desire to burn in her blood, 
Make of her heart my love's wild garden. 
Press on, press on, abide we the hour! 

He bends his head to his breast and points forward 
with his rod. The procession streams on and dis- 
appears. The Chorus presently come in through the 
altar-grove: young girls in Cretan garb. They sing 
the Parabasis, turning their faces as they move round 
about to where they look for Theseus to come. 

Chorus 

Not upon us, Athenian, not upon us 
Despair sits darkling, nor sweet Hope 
From us hath folded her away 
While now the Morning, golden-zoned. 
Streams thro' the gateways of the east. 
This is the holy hour, it hath 
Cooling influence of dew. 
Gentle airs, remembered sleep. 
Promise of day renewed! 

Theseus appears, and stands at the edge of the grove, 
leaning upon his spear. They lift up their hands, 
hailing him. 



n ARIADNE IN NAXOS 93 

Great deeds have I seen, 

Glory hath blinded me 

Till I know not Crete, nor bewail 

The Hght of my father's house. 

Nor the pleasant pastures of Ida. 

Behold, they are past as a bird's cry in the 

night, 
Suddenly! Yet I look up 
Trustful, as women trust in the eyes of a man. 

When for the sword and the battle 
The murderous beast's ire 
Availed him not; when he fell — 
Minotaur! — and the shout 
Rang thro' the streets, "We are free! 
Crete is free!" Then I knew 
A man was come: and I saw him, 
Theseus, tamer of men, crowned with his 
deed! 

Ariadne, the fair-browed maid, 
Wealth and pleasure of Crete, 
Saw him, how goodly and wise; 
Kneeled, set his foot on her neck, 
Master and lord of her life. 
Bowed her, yielded; and I — 
I too — fell where she fell, 
Claspt his knees where she claspt, 
Past with her to the ship; 
Stood looking steadfast upon him launcht on 
the deep! 



94 THE AGONISTS n 

For the Gods, splendid on thrones. 
The far-seeing Gods are his friends: 
Zeus, Poseidon the Girdler, 
Wise Demeter — they stayed him, 
Upheld, threatening the sea. 
Grey-eyed Pallas, the War-Maid, 
Artemis shrill as the wind, 
Phoebus the death-dealer, 
Yea, all the deathless, the Twelve 
Smiled his going forth his fortunate way. 

Shall I not serve, being glad. 
Unmindful, Dicte, of thee; 
Forgetting the breathings of Ida 
Whose cypresses hush down the voice ? 
Shall I remember the Sisters whiter than 

snow 
Where Cydonia shoulders the sea ? 
Nay, but the pastures of Crete and upland 

places 
Are still, hid in death and the dark; 
And I choose for the light thou bearest, tamer 

of men ! 

[They stand all about Theseus, adoring. 

Theseus 

Daughters of Minos, pluckt from Crete, 
Chaplet for Athens, or a wreath 
For her smooth brows! me now so near 
My crown the Gods have furthered. 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 



95 



And Athens, not remote 

Nor slow to welcome, ere two suns, 

Shall light your careful eyes, 

Wash pure your tear-worn cheeks 

To redden; for soon our sail 

Blown ripe to round the peak 

Of Salamis shall strain, 

And soon the banked oars 

Shall grip the tide, and our hearts 

Inhale the generous air, 

And our eyes the Violet Crown. 

Yet seeing 'twas willed in Heaven 

Out of the calm a sahent wind 
With moaning music should stir 
The surge against our oars, 

Should fling the prow of the ship 
To seethe his hair in the vast 

Recurring waves, and in foam 

Sluice them, we fled before it 

Hither to Naxos, here to stay us; 

And hence, yest'reen. 

When the long roaring wind had swooned 

And a light breeze ruffled the sea, 

Naucritas sped I, Leucippus, 

With news of our coming, redeemed. 

To iEgeus, King and Father — 

Father of Athens, father of me and the 

people. 
Hence now we too shall set 
Sail, and win back our peace 
Ere once more Hehos faint. 



96 THE AGONISTS ii 

Chorus I 
I reck not Crete, but to win thy land! 

Chorus II 
What land hath a woman but her lord ? 

Chorus III 

And who is her lord but he that is strong 
And masterful, even as thou art? 

Theseus 

Fear not at all 

Cold welcome, maidens, fear not at all. 

Beneficent the Gods we hallow; there 
Clemency reigneth, and Justice 
Reigneth, and stately Measure, 
High-ordered Temperance, Piety, 
Laborious Peace! For their ends 
I took the shift; Pallas armed me 
And strung me to steel for the grim 
Grapple with Minotaur, 
Seven years a coil for our necks. 
No more: he is fallen, is fallen! 
Our days loom large, without end. 

Chorus 
O come! We delay. 



n ARIADNE IN NAXOS 97 

Theseus 

Nay, first 
Smooth Ariadne, offering 
Milk and new-pressed wine. 
From Artemis seeketh her pledge — 
From that pitiful, that benign 
Maid that mothereth babes — 
A pledge of our love's sweet graft. 
Seeing how she is raised 
High above maids, as her worth 
Challenged us, proving it. 

Chorus 

A worthy wife ! Worthy of thee ! 
'Twas thou felled Minotaur, 
'Twas she gave thee the way. 

Theseus 

The clew was hers that did win me 
Forth from the miry ways 
Of error writhing to err. 
Thickened with drip of mist, 
Fat with the reek of bones 
And fretting members of men. 
Through all the toils devised 
By all-wise Daedalus — 
Trap for his terror, trap for himself — 
She brought me by sweet craft 
And wit; wherefore I praise her. 
I praise her, and crown her mine. 



98 THE AGONISTS ii 

Chorus 

See, see, she cometh. 

O new-made, fortunate wife! 

O girdle happily loosed! 

O virgin made mother, O bride! 

Ariadne comes gladly from the grove. She is 
flushed and joyful, and comes to Theseus with worship. 
She stands at first looking upon him, her message in 
her eyes. 

Theseus 
What hast thou ? It is well ? 

Ariadne 
Well. It is well with me. 

Theseus 
What hast thou, looking upon me ? 

Ariadne 
Loving, I look where I love. 

Theseus 

Thou smilest. Thy cheek's fresh rose 
Speaketh. 

Ariadne 

Good augury! 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 99 

Theseus 
What then ? 

Ariadne 

My new joy! 
My King's gift: for my bosom a jewel, 
For my brows a crown; for thy house 
A son; honour for me. 

[She lifts up her arms, glorified. Theseus clasps her. 

Theseus 

Now praise all Gods for pride 
Of life! 

Chorus 

Now serve all Gods! 
Fill altar-cups, strew corn. 
Cast branches. Serve them so. 

Theseus 

They look benignantly 
On men who lust on life. 
Who carve their own fate out. 

Chorus 

Alas for women! For they 
Lack force for fate. 



100 THE AGONISTS n 

Theseus 

Look they 
To husband^s thews for a sword. 

Chorus 
Nay, meekness serves them, and prayer. 

Theseus 
Pray then. I stand upright. 

[Ariadne, in his arms, touches his chin. 

Ariadne 
Pray yet for thy son, O Theseus. 

[He laughs as he kisses her. 

Theseus 

Pray thou! My prayer is made 
In sword-stroke and bloody doing 
Wrought for the land, to rid it 
Of plague, clamour, red envy, 
Hatred, malice: I serve 
Men, and so serve God best. 

Ariadne 

Some serve by wrath, and some 
By love. Love is humbleness 
And boundless giving. And joy 
Cometh of other joy. 

[She quits his arms. 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS loi 

I go to give thanks to God 
For the joy I carry in me. 

Chorus 

excellent in woman 

To bend the knee, yet in spirit 

To outsoar the falcon, mate the blue 

Starry dwelling of Zeus! 

Theseus 

Go pay thy service, for ere the sun 
Be at high noon we seek the ship. 

Ariadne 
Bending my knees, I am gone. 

She goes into the grove. The Chorus grow 
thoughtful. Some look anxiously about, some whisper 
together; all keep within touch. So presently they 
turn to Theseus. 

Chorus 
Thou prayest not, O hero! 

Theseus 

1 have prayed by stroke of sword. 

Chorus 

Yet a God, they say, dwelleth hereby 
Should have thy worship. 



102 THE AGONISTS n 

Theseus 

Thy God! 
Name him. What sUm, sleek lad ? 

Chorus I 
Hush! For I name him not. 

Chorus H (whispering) 
The Son of Semele! 

Chorus HI 
The Son of bhnding Zeus! 

Chorus IV 
Nurtured by wild-eyed nymphs! 

Chorus V 
Nurtured with blood for milk! 

Chorus I 
Bright as wine! Sanguine bright! 

Chorus II 
Him of the gleaming shoulder! 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 103 

Chorus III 

Him of the wet skin 

Pluckt reeking from the fawn, 

Clinging about him! 

Theseus 

Bacchus! 

' Chorus 

Hush! For we name him not. 

Theseus 

But I name him, O women! 
Shame and deep shame upon ye. 

Here is no God for maidens to seek 

To grace the bed for a bridal. 

Seek Pallas rather, the virgin grave. 

Seek rather the Huntress, the Shining One, 

Whom Ariadne now decks with prayer. 

Loud praises the Evian hath — but not yours. 

Chorus 

Oh, but this murmurous God 
Potency hath and dread! 
Here chiefly to be feared. 



104 THE AGONISTS ii 



Theseus 

Seek ye the bride, lift with her 
Your arms. Hers dimb to the sun. 



Chorus 

Would that thine clomb, O son of iEgeus, 
with hers! 



Theseus 

Nay, let her love work wonders for me! 
For love is mighty, where force not availeth. 

Chorus 
Ay, love is mighty, envied of Gods. 

Theseus 

Well may they grudge! for what have they 
To venture against the dear joy, 
The warm-mouthed welcome of wife and 
child .? 

Chorus 

Beware lest they mar that peace, 

From husband's arms snatch wife, from 

mother 
Ravish the babe. Beware, Theseus! 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 105 

Theseus 

Quaking hearts, foolish talk — 
Here in this sunHt place! 

[He reclines at ease. 

After the dust of battle, 

From the puddled earth new-risen, 

Shaking the old turmoil 

From his clotted hair, and the sweat 

From haggard eyes, the hero 

Lies his length, and his head 

Sinks to the fragrant lap of his wife! 

She fills the mead-cup, crowns him 

With flowers, anoints his feet, 

Poureth oil in his wounds. 

With her hands ministereth! 

Who shall deny him ? What God ? 

I having fought, having prevailed, so crave 

her, 
So claim her, await her. So, even now, 
I could sleep, for in this mild air 
Is sweetness wooing to dreams. 

Chorus I 

I sense the mystery all about — 
Ah, me! 

Chorus II 
Ah, Lord! 



io6 THE AGONISTS n 

Chorus III 

Who cometh ? 
Who stealetn down the wind ? 

Chorus IV 
What riot is rife in the air ? 

Theseus 

Dimness assaileth me. What is this ? 
What thick sense, what languor of Hmbs ? 
What fumes of dropping wine ? 

Chorus V 

Virtue Hke that of hidden wine 
SteaHng at dusk from the wine-vat. 

[Theseus rises to his knees in wonder. 

Theseus 
In a day the spring has leaped! It is here! 

Chorus 
Virtue is in him of new wine. 

Theseus 

Ah, but that wine was sweet 

Supt at the bridal! Sweet was the chant 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 107 

Of them by the wreathed Hermes fast by the 

door! 
Frohc the feast was, burning the bride, 
Hiding her shame to be so desired! 
But here is sterner joy — in spilt blood, 
In clash of men, shock of horses. 
In shouting, clamour, pressing of spears! 
Man against man 

[A hush falls. The sun is hidden. 

Chorus 
Hush! Hush all! He is here. 



Who then ? 



Theseus 

Chorus 
Our lord. 

Theseus 

What lord ? 

Chorus 
The nameless, many-named. 

Theseus 
Then is salvation nearer than at first. 

Dionysus appears with Maenad and Faun. The- 
seus rises, but never looks at him throughout the scene. 



io8 THE AGONISTS n 

Dionysus 
Loosed bonds for the encompassed I bring. 

Chorus 
O full of sleep and dreams! 

Dionysus 

Beneficent my spells upon men, 
Dreams out of wine, panoplied dreams, 
Conquest, empery, ventures wild 
In ruinous places, on high seas 
Unsailed before. Who follows me 
Forsakes wife, children, father's house. 
Enthusiast become. 
Endues the fawnskin, grasps the rod. 
Runs glad the riot. FoUowest thou me ? 

Theseus (trembhng) 
Lord, I am plighted, my father awaits. 

Dionysus 
Know thou no father but mine. 

Theseus 
He forfend! I have plighted troth. 



11 ARIADNE IN NAXOS 109 

Dionysus 

Great deeds are stored for thee — 
Rending of nations, renown in Achaia. 

Theseus 
Ay, I feel it! 

Dionysus 

For thee 
The shriek of men falling, for thee the spears, 
The shouting, the captives, acclaim. For 

thee 
Hippolyta Queen of scarred Maeotis 
Arrested her fate; thee Heracles, 
Alcmena's son, awaits even now 
To beckon lord of Athens. Yea, 
Adventurous beyond all men. 
To Hades shalt thou go, and see 
Passion-pale Kore, the dead — then come 
To lord it in Athens. Thee, Theseus, 
Athenian King, I urge to thy fate, 
Breathing upon thee thus with my mouth 

[He breathes upon Theseus, who trembles. 

Breathing thus again upon thee 

Theseus shudders and sways, then lifts up with a 
battle cry. 



no THE AGONISTS n 

Theseus 
Ho, for the battle! Ho, for the ship! 

Dionysus 
Thus breathing again, and thus. 

Theseus resists no more, but looks doglike, panting 
at his master. 

Chorus 

See, he trembles! Each hot breath 
Flushes him darker, beside himself. 

Dionysus 
I shake thee with my breath. 

Theseus 

It encompasseth as a fire, 
Floodeth my temples, beateth 
The balls of my eyes. 

[He strides forward, shaking his head. 

Chorus 

Risen great and grim. 
The son of ^Egeus looketh 
Wildly upon me, muttering. 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS iii 

Dionysus (in a voice like a trumpet) 

Theseus, King, 
Girded with war-gear, 
Seeketh his mates 
By the black ships; 
Raiseth the chant, 
The chant of oarsmen; 
Crowdeth sail 
For the open water. 

[Theseus sways about, holding his spear. 

Theseus 

Am I not King? 

Shall I forbear me 

To seize the spear, to cry the battle 

Shrill among men .? Let all men know 

Me leader, adventurous. 

Not war-sated, by love not filled, 

Rather in battle seeking my food! 

Chorus 

Alas, what wilt thou .? Alas for us! 
And for her, the bride! 

Theseus 

O thou that settest desire and pain 
To rend a man, by these thy gifts 
Upon me now, hear! By the sword 



112 THE AGONISTS ii 

I draw I renounce my former estate, 

And driven by tempest, mad with the fever 

Gotten of thee, harsh as a squall. 

With no look back, nor thought, I fling me — 

Heading the spearmen stark to havoc. 

[The Chorus impede him. 

Chorus 

Stay, lord, have pity 
On her thy chosen mate! 
Lo, we are women, daring 
Woman's extreme fate! 

Theseus 

Trouble me not, for the God, 
Giver of fire, is upon me. 
Battle! The sword is out! 

Chorus 

Alas for her, with a bleeding heart. 
Lonely, passioning to her death! 

Theseus 

Athene claims me — brail up the mast — 
Cry you, A Thesus, ho! Battle is joined! 
Bacchus is lord of the earth, God above 

Gods — 
Bacchus! 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 113 

Dionysus 
Time is. 

Theseus 

Hailing thee thus, I go. 

The procession goes forward, Theseus, with bent 
head, stumbling before it as if he was driven. The 
Chorus in great agitation hold out their arms to him. 
Presently they see the ship take the sea. Then they 
tell fiercely the tale after their manner. 

Chorus I 

He bared his eyes; with unstaying feet 

For the foam-bitten shore 

He hastened, hounded to fate. 

Soon shall the sails cover the fleet, 

The sea flash to the freight. 

The pulse and thresh of the oars. 

Man born of a woman, winged, outsoars 

The hawk's flight; falleth then and outpours 

His eager estate! 

Chorus II 

The Olympian breath'd upon him; the hero, 

bhnd, 
Drave where he led 
As a ship whose helmsman is gone. 
Yea, as a ship curst by the wind 
He went out muttering, wan; 
He spake not, turned not his head. 



114 THE AGONISTS n 

Where is love's chaplet ? 'Tis faded, 'tis 

dead! 
Woe to the spousals, the desolate bed, 
The heart of stone! 



Chorus III 

Man born of a woman, purposeful, bound, 

Lifteth his eyes 

To the wild splendour of God, 

Dazzled. The earth he loveth, her sound 

Of reed-music, her load 

Of beauty, of ecstasies. 

How shall he dare the terrors, the mysteries, 

The silence, the brooding, the still surprise, 

The awful Abode .? 



Chorus IV 

Woman that Hveth to trust and to cling. 

Being forsworn, 

Choketh the tears as they start; 

Masketh her passion, traileth her wing 

As a bird, grieveth apart. 

Tearless, voiceless, forlorn. 

Laughter and speech hath she for love; but 

to mourn. 
Sighs, and labouring bosom, and shorn 
Hair, and dead heart. 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 115 

Chorus V 

And this is her lot, she boweth her knees, 
Yieldeth her limbs, 

Giveth her candour, her untrodden soul 
Into thy keeping, O Man; for lordship she 

sees 
Throned in thy brows, and control. 
Lit by thy favour she swims 
Sunned in thy smile, rapt in hymns 
Hymeneal, glorious in dreams 
Golden and whole! 

Chorus VI 

Whenas the battle, the lust of war, 

Smell of the sea 

Drive thee abroad, she cannot gainsay 

Thy purpose, O Man, but afar 

Setting her eyes to the day, 

She bendeth her knee. 

Hope against hope! for the God is in thee; 

Blood-fever, the fury that houndeth the free 

Have thee their prey! 

Chorus 

The high Gods drive us whither they will, 

Humble our knees. 

Lure to ruin and sin; 

Whelm us, spurn us, madden and kill; 



ii6 THE AGONISTS ii 

Crave us belike, net and fasten us in, 

Launch us on desolate seas. 

Power they have to possess, but not to 

appease 
Desire upon us; power to raven at ease — 
But to love! Ah, no, not so! 



Chorus I 

Love! That is ours. That have we 
From our kind, not Godkind. 

Chorus II 
Ay, we fear God, love man. 

Chorus III 

Alas, sisters, who would love man! 

See where she cometh alone with her joy — 

With mirthful step! 

[Ariadne comes in quickly. 

Ariadne 

Be glad with me 
O women! and be glad, thou Earth, 
And skyey vault, and amorous clouds 
That hang about the sun! And you. 
Ye birds! O hills, Hft up your heads! 
Let all clear streams dance Hke my heart! 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 117 

And thou, Maid Artemis, 
Patroness of the pure. 
Come thou to earth and me! 

[The Chorus cry to their Goddess. 



Chorus I 
O come, O come, Desirable! 

Chorus II 
O Lady, come! 

Chorus III 
Succour us now! 



Pity us now! 



Chorus IV 

Chorus V 
She pitieth none! 

Chorus VI 

O hidden Gods, whose name may not be 

spoken. 
This grows a sombre day that opened so 

fair! 



ii8 THE AGONISTS n 

Ariadne 

What mean ye, comrades ? What chill 

shade 
Shall pass between my love and me ? 

Chorus I 

Fate's way. We smile in our sleep, 
Anon the Furies beat their wings 
Wide, and we weep. 

Ariadne 
Talk ye so to a bride .? Talk ye so ? 

[One points out to sea. 

Chorus II 
The sail! The Dragon climbeth the sea. 

Ariadne 

Ships pass; and soon shall ours be 
Like snow upon hyacinth. 

Chorus III 
The sky will weep for that snow. 

Chorus IV 
Herald of wailing women. 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 119 

Chorus V 
Herald of bruised breasts. 

Ariadne (sobered) 
'Tis true, clouds gather for rain. 

Chorus VI 
Rain ! Ay, of tears for love forsworn ! 

Ariadne 

Shall I weep ? Shall I weep ? With my 

hope 
Proud like the swelling wheat } 

Chorus I 

Black with blight is thy goodly grain. 
Widowed art thou, to kindred not yet un- 
veiled. 

Ariadne 

My heart is crying. Heed it not. 
I am trembhng. Look not at me. 

Chorus II 
The Dragon drives not alone. 



120 THE AGONISTS ii 

Ariadne 
Where is Theseus ? Where is my lord ? 

Chorus III 
The godlike Theseus 

Chorus IV 

Godlike in this 
That he is stark and cruel 

Chorus V 

Is gone! 
He is gone — nor ship nor hero for thee. 

[A pause of shock. 

Ariadne 

Heed not my crying, heed not me. 
I am foohsh — but speak to me. 

Chorus VI 

A God bent down 

Through the air from his seat on high, 
Hither upon thy lord; and he breathed 
Furious breath on his eyes, and kindled 
A fire in him, which he fanned to flame, 
To leap and encompass his soul, his honour, 
His joy and pity, all the man 



n ARIADNE IN NAXOS 121 

He was and might be. So then thy lord, 
Filled with a frenzy, fever of blood-thirst, 
Drave, blundering, out to the ship. 
Stammering "Bacchus! Battle is joined! 
A Theseus, ho!'' and rushed to the ship — 
And they pushed out to sea. 

Chorus III 
Nor shalt thou see his eyes again. 

Chorus IV 

Nor he thine in thy son. 

[Ariadne stands as one dazed. 

Ariadne 
The sun is darkened. Let us too go. 

Chorus IV 
Whither ? 

Ariadne 

I know not. My heart aches. 

She sits down, stiffly and strangely, as if out of her 
wits. 

Chorus 

Better by far had death, 

That stooping like a vulture clutcht 

Alcestis to his haunt among the shades 



122 THE AGONISTS ii 

Across the coiling waters, and beneath 
The flowery crust of earth did lay her, 
Wrapt for sacrifice as in long folds 
Of priestly mantle, or golden prayer — 
Better, I say, that thou wert with the dead 
Folded, in expectation of no change. 

Chorus II 

Thou that wast wife, as widow must set to 

the shears 
The flow of thy tresses. 
Cast them a golden shower to the lap of the 

earth; 
Fold in a shroud thy head, thy shell-pink 

ears, 
Hide the crystalline sweet of thy limbs which 

the light caresses, 
Loving thee well; veil thee from sight. 
Black as the raven, black as the heart of the 

storm, black as the night! 

[Ariadne cries over the sea. 

Ariadne 

The dead wind lags, and even now 
All noontide lays her spell on the sea, 
And on Theseus, stretcht his length 
Upon his lionskin, sole on the poop. 
Watching Naxos — and lo! 
Her hills like barrows that mark a grave, 
And love and honour buried there! 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 123 

What thought hankering bleacheth his hair, 
Feedeth upon his brow ? What ruth ? 
Sighs he for me, or needs me ? Alas ! 
Alas, that from the bed 
Of grey Tithonus thou littest, thief, 
To laugh on Crete the day I first lookt 
On him, my moonbeam, maddening me! 
Was ever maid curst so by a man ? 

Curst! Nay, I was blest 
Beyond all maids born when I knew 
For one hour I was his, he mine! 
Blest beyond reach of Gods, 
Or tearing of fierce Moerae; 
With fire-tinct memories stored, 
Deep as the sea, and as clear — 
To flush my temples, and beat 
In my blood till I die! 

Agitation has stolen into the Chorus, who have 
become restless, attentive to distant sound. 

Chorus 

The far-ofFmurmur of wailing, voices intoned. 
Shrilling exultant, sobbing to rest, but anon 
Borne on a gust of wind sudden and fierce. 
Thrust rude on our ears. 
Swooning now, it is gone! 
Yet like the feeble flux of a falling tide 
Cometh the shadow of days bygone 
And the salt savour of tears. 

[Ariadne looks to her lap. 



124 THE AGONISTS n 



Ariadne 

O thou dear seed! 

O tender shoot, in whose blood 

Is the streak Erechthean, 

The grain of thy sire! 

Honoured shall I be, harbouring thee, 

Blessed my breasts that give thee meat! 

[The Chorus are beside themselves. 



Chorus 

Soon shall be music, high delirium, 
Sobbing music, high procession! 
Life is heavy with fate too big to be borne; 
Fury shall enter, darkness gather possession; 
Dreaming shall follow on woe, for anguish 
remission ! 

Ariadne 

What sing ye ? What is your song ? 
Have ye not that to give me the grace of 
tears ? 

Chorus I (jerking) 

I know not. But where hath been 
Dejection, Madness enters the tilth 
New broken, and sows a seed. 



n ARIADNE IN NAXOS 125 

Chorus II (inspired) 

War is on earth of God against God! 

This is the harbourage favoured of one 

Subtly sweet, terribly strong. 

Guard thee the guile of his tongue, 

Beware the cloudy abode 

Of Bromius, wilful and young. 

Chorus III (wildly) 

The God of the flame, the God of the torch ! 
The God of Chorus, the vintage, loosing of 

hair, 
Theban lacchus! 

Chorus IV 

Storm in his eyes! 

Chorus V 
Fire sits eating his eyes, buffets his wing! 

Chorus VI 
Bacchus is King! 

Chorus I 

Even so, come, on the breath of the spring, 
Come, Bacchus, our King! 

[Ariadne rises. 



126 THE AGONISTS 

Ariadne 
Are ye wise, women, are ye wise ? 

Chorus II 

Yea, for my wisdom issues 

Darkly; my lips have words from on high. 

I know he is near. 

Chorus III 
Fear him, fear! 

Ariadne 

Nay, but I fear him not. 

Who stoopeth to strike the stricken ? 

Chorus IV 

Belike — O dreamer, O dreamful! 

Belike stooping with words 

Silky as balm, he will lighten thy load. 

Chorus V 

The fawnskin, the thyrsus, O come! 
Hark! Hark! 

Chorus VI 

The winding of flutes — 
Padding feet in rhythmical dance! 



II 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 127 

Chorus I 

As herds to the water, advance — 
Come, for Bacchus is near! 

[They circle about Ariadne who stands perplexed. 



Ariadne 

What is your speech ? I know not. 
Whom sing ye so shrilly ? 

The Chorus now in wild excitement run about and 
urge one another. 

Chorus I 

Again the riot, the passion, the beating 

Of wings in the void, the rapture, the greeting 

Of shadovvy^ forms and vast! 

Chorus II 
Bacchus! 

Chorus III 

Numbed are the senses, the horror is past! 
Mountain calleth to mountain, deep unto 
deep! 

Chorus II 
Bacchus, O Bacchus! 



128 THE AGONISTS n 



Chorus IV 

Sleepers awake ! Nymphs of the grove, 
Nereids, reedy and still, shiver and move. 
Your white arms as I move! 



Chorus V 
I feel the God! I am mad with light. 

Chorus II 
Bacchus, Bacchus, lacchus! 

Chorus VI 
It is thou, it is thou. Giver of Fire! 

Chorus II 
Bacchus, Bacchus, lacchus! 

Chorus I 

Nymph-beloved, it is thou, the myriad-named, 
Thou, born in Thebae, shameless, unshamed, 
God of the vine, God of the lyre! 

Chorus II 

Bacchus, Bacchus, Evoe! 

[Dionysus appears with the Maenad. 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 129 

Dionysus 
Mine, Ariadne, now, by day and by night. 

[The Chorus offer themselves to him madly. 

Chorus I 
Lord, I am thine! 

Chorus II 
And I! 

Chorus III 

And I! 

Chorus IV 
Lord, we follow 

Chorus V 

Ah, lord, take me! 

Ariadne 
Who art thou, lord ? 

Chorus 
Bacchus named, lord of the earth! 



130 THE AGONISTS ii 

Dionysus 

Hail to the chosen bride! 

Hail to thee, loved and sought by a God, 

Anointed thus with my breath 

Upon bosom and brows, upon mouth and 

eyes, 
Softer shed than dew on the grass, 
Lighter than gossamer, caUing thee hence, 
Ariadne, to follow desire 
Whither I lead. 

Speaking, he breathes upon her, bending down over 
her where she kneels. 



Chorus 

We toil in thy track through thicket and 

hollow. 
Over the rocky steep of the mountain. 
Through the marish and salt lagoon. 
Through bramble and briar, over the dune. 
Through harsh bent grass bitter with wind 

from the sea. 
Fire aches in our blood, to thrust a way 

through — 
Ah, we madden, we die! 



Dionysus 
Mine, mine, O much-beloved! 



n ARIADNE IN NAXOS 131 

Ariadne 

Not thine, not mine, but only his 
Who made me matron suddenly, 
An untried virgin, very young. 

Chorus 

Nay, he hath terrible eyes, 

His force is a force of rain, 

Irresistibly soft, 

Fretting the rock, gnawing the plain 

With furrow deeper than plough in the croft. 

Ariadne 

Shameful your song. Ill it beseems 
Ye drive me, burdened so heavily! 
And thou! Oh, be merciful, 
Take not my grief from me! 

Look on me, I am piteous. 

My strength is gone, and my garner of years 

May waste ere the sheaf be added 

Should win me sight of my lord 

In his son. If haply my prayer 

Hath flitted in vacant wind 

About her shrine, or if she. 

My Goddess, holdeth aloof. 

Thou wilt have pity, and leave us 

Hand in hand, grief and I, 

Bosom-mates. Thou that didst grieve 



132 THE AGONISTS n 

Mortal mother, who died 
Of too clear sight of her joy 
Semele's son, pity thou me, 
Mother and mortal! 



Chorus 

Idle thy prayer! He is here. 
Desirous. 



Ariadne 

If I abate 
Ever so much as the breadth of a hair 
From virgin estate, 
Vow'd to my lord, how shall I dare 
Wash the tears from my body to make me 

fair 
When he calleth me home to be mate ? 
Now, Demeter, aid me, and bear 
My feet, sHpping to fate! 

Ah, lord, thou art great! 

Lore of dark wisdom is thine, thy blood 

Kindles desire for fulness of life. 

I look to thine eyes, as into water, where 

strife 
And clamour lie drowned, and still creatures 

brood, 
Watching the ebb and flow of thy mood: 
Look not so! thine eyes are as wells! 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 133 

Chorus 

Lord, that Pentheus the King 

Fought to his wreck and the woe of his 

house; 
That hurled him red to the teeth of his foes — 
Agave, wife, and old Cadmus, father and 

king, 
Tore, mangled his limbs. 
Driven by thee to the dark, terrible thing: 
Little she deems 
Her end who battles with God! 

Ariadne 

Take off from me the glamour of thine eyes, 
For thus to witch me is pitiful. 
Regard me not — thou'lt kill me! 

Dionysus 
Mine, mine, by day and night. 

Chorus 

He smileth on her, his mouth Is bright. 
Keen as the wind of the north with frosty bite, 
And the burning of frost — 
She reels, faints, and is lost. 

Ariadne (waiHng) 

Yea, irredeemably lost 
In the shrouds of thee! 



134 THE AGONISTS ii 

Folded, carried away 
By floe too stealthy and swift. 
Drowning, I care not lift 
Hands, I care not to pray — 
Only I hymn thee, looser of toils, 
Swift Saviour, whom sin and the coils 
Of flesh never gainsay. 

Washt clean in thy waters, I take new birth. 
Hailing thee lord of the length and breadth 
of the earth. 

Maenad 

Dark as wine, ruthless as rain — 

lo, Zagreus, regent of storm and pain! 

Dionysus 

Come, O thou heavy-laden, behold 
In me all grieving drowned. 



Chorus 

Trembling in all her limbs, but not for fears, 

Rather for lassitude of pain; 

Seeking with eyes all blotted dim with tears 

Her souFs peculiar food; 

Lagging as flower dissipate by rain 

That faints to feel the sun. 

She gathers up her sorrow in a flood 

And heaps it on thee — and the strife is done. 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 135 

Ariadne (to the Maenad) 

Let there be mystic dance and procession; 

unbind 
My hair that it float on the wind. 
Loose ye my girdle, sister, let me go free 
For my lord's pleasure of me. 
So — I throw my head back, so feel I the 

God 
In my veins. The blossoming rod 
Into my hand give ye! 

[The Maenad has now approached her for the rite. 

lo, Bacchus, lover of Chorus, 
Tragic, dark, inscrutable one! 
Rapt lead I the dance, my blood 
Leaping to thine. O master of me, 
Catch the sob in my throat with a kiss, and 
seal me to thee! 

Maenad 
lo! The lord of lights and glooms goeth on! 

They pass out in procession. The Chorus dance 
the Bacchic hymn, which varies with each singer. 
Between each strophe there is dancing, which is 
heralded by the emotion expressed in the verse. 

Chorus I 

Let us fly to the hills and thyme-haunted 

places. 
Revel is on us; he goadeth us on! 



136 THE AGONISTS n 

Kindle the pine-stem, snatch the thyrsus, 

Lift shrill song 

With wailing of flutes, scream of the pipes: 

Stamp ye your feet 

Rhythmically as the mad drums beat — 

Bacchus, Bacchus, lacchus! We drift in the 
throng 

Of the lightfoot fauns, nymphs bright- 
breasted and young. 

With hair afloat and giving of tongue — 

We are thy dogs, hounding the day! 

[Dance. 

Chorus II 

Thou that feedest on prayer, 
Worshipt with sobs at Eleusis, 
Where the Mystae fall to their faces, 
Lie with dust on their hair! 
Clear call the priests, wail the priestesses 
Thrilled by thee — thy might 
Fills the vast: they stumble, run to and. 
fro \ 

As drunken, reeling they go 
Whither they know not, astray 
Into the night! 

[Dance. 

Chorus III 

Like as the wounded deer. 
Limping adown the valley. 
Pants for the quiet hidden streams, 



ri ARIADNE IN NAXOS 137 

Yet stays her not, nor slacks her Hmbs, 

White fear doth gripe her wholly; 

So labouring we long 

For haven in our pain, 

The patter of the rain, 

The volume of the storm without our 

wattled home! 
So labouring go we on 
Burdened with thee, 
And bruise thy fruit against our lips. 
And let the drips 
Of wine-vats sluice our brows and aching 

sense eclipse. 

[Dance. 



Chorus IV 

Lord of the choric strain, 
Darkly oracular, 
We search thy face in vain, 
Thy Hps for any sign 
Or soothful or benio;n 
Of any solace for our burning scar; 
Seeking thee from afar, 
From howling seas stormy with winter war, 
From where the windy, frozen caverns are. 
We struggle southward in a broken Hne, 
Swallows wide-scattered, seeking the south — 
And lo! the sun lays bare thy mocking 
mouth! 

[Dance. 



138 THE AGONISTS n 

Chorus V 

More cruel than women fatal unto men, 
iEaean Circe or the Ogygian queen, 
Of beauty yet more fell and ruinous! 
Thee when Zeus garnered in his mighty 

thigh 
He fostered delicate poison, and willed us die 
That hungered. And thy savour maddened 

us, 
Who kissing thee again found death more 

piteous. 

[Dance. 

Chorus VI (pointing) 

Break off, for the sun shineth on high. 
And the God returneth 
And all the blue world yearneth 
To the spell of his beaming eye! 

Ah, see in what lovely wise 

With soft arms intertwined 

And head to ruddy neck reclined. 

The dream-God leads our dreaming one! 

Her eyes 
Upward search the fathomless 
Depth unutterable of his — 
Come, let us greet her, glozed with mysteries. 

Dionysus comes back, with Ariadne clinging to him, 
embraced with his arm. 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 139 

Dionysus 

Laugh for gladness, O be blithe, 
Open thy Hps and give me words 
Comfortable, that thy man might have, 
Whispering utter faithfulness, 
Joy in yielded strength of him. 
Chatter as she whose love is ripe, 
Whose heart and his as petals of flowers 
CHng together, ensheathing so 
That heart they two have conceived as one. 
Speak so to me whom thou hast so loved, 
Drowning in me thy conquered grief — 
Speak, Ariadne, speak, my bride! 

[She pores upon his face and clasps him wildly. 



Ariadne 

Let me see thy face, let me touch thy hair. 
Hold thee in arms — closer, closer! 
Touch me, touch me, love me close — 
Now let thy heart beat attune with mine — 
Kiss me long — ah! 

[She releases him. 

No man art thou, 
But God who maketh me faint 
With love that like hungry flame 
Leapeth and Hcketh my heart. 
And knoweth no rest for fear that it die! 



140 THE AGONISTS 

It consumeth me as a feverish night. 
It passeth Hke fire on the hearth, 
It runneth about, roareth on high, 
Shaketh down ash, raveneth still, 
Mastereth me, giveth no peace — 
Nay, I must die of this love ! 

Dionysus 
Love I gave thee — owest thou nothing ? 

Ariadne 
Whither thou goest, I go. 

Dionysus 
What hast thou yet that I have not ? 

Ariadne 
Nothing. Thou hast me all. 

Dionysus 
Grudgest thou this our joy ? 

Ariadne 

Joy ? Had I joy of thee ? 

Joy ? Do I grudge thee such joy f 

Nor grudge, nor wish otherwise. 
Thou camest, a flare of light — 



II 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 141 

Blinded, I fell asleep 

And dreamed of subtle and lovely things. 

Dionysus 

Lovely! And thou so lovely! 

So loved — and so unloving! 

I know what I have won, and what lost. 



Ariadne 
Thou hast won all. 

Dionysus 
Thy heart? 

Ariadne 
I have no heart. That is dead. 

Dionysus 

God giveth life. As God 
Bent I in love upon thee. 
Pouring my breath like new wine 
Into thy mouth. 

Ariadne 

As mortal 
I bowed to immortal God. 



142 THE AGONISTS ii 

Dionysus 

Ranked in the clouds, seeing, not seen, 
Carven in beauty, sit the high Gods, 
In a white row, serene and cold; 
Holding each in his hand 
The strings of life and destiny; 
Having their will for law, 
Seeing Hfe as a tale told. 
Far from earth and its quiet recesses. 

The dusty orb of the earth, 
DarkHng and smouldering, 
Spinning below their sacred zone 
Of pure Hght, hangeth and swingeth 
Barred from doom by Charter, and free 
For sorrow or mirth. 
Thither God bendeth his eyes, to see 
How man to man turneth and cHngeth, 
Mate knitteth to mate. 
Maiden to youth, matron to man. 
With love to bind, beget and create 
More, to shun Him and hate, 
Even as they fear! 

What hath God to do here ? 

Driven by desire. He came down 

To visit the earth He had made. 

Clothed in Hghtning and majesty, 

Beamed in white ethereal fire. 

On the wind enthroned. Man was afraid 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 143 

And hid, and called upon his desire 

To hide in his bosom. Then God grew 

wrath 
With the world. He drave 
With a sword man out of his path; 
But the closer man clave 
To his smooth counterpart, 
Loving even the grave. 
Where she lay hid, more than God's heart. 
Love starved now, God gloometh apart. 
Too high for love, and removed too far. 
Bound by his own decree. 
Absolute King, alone — 
Misjudged, hard - judging, powerless in 

potency! 

[He turns to Ariadne holding out his hands. 

O thou woman beloved! 

Who hast known me, had of me 

More than of man thou couldst ever — 

Thou who hast given me 

What save to God thou couldst never! 

See now, imploring. 

Urging thy heart, 

I, God, stoop 

To thy knees, thy lover! 

I, God, at thy knees — 

Stooping immortal — I, incorruptible, 

Stooping to thee, corruptible! 

What sayest thou ? 



144 THE AGONISTS ii 

Ariadne (in a low voice) 
Whither thou callest go I. 

Dionysus 
Dazed and stricken thou doggest my heels. 

Ariadne 
So I must follow or die. 

Chorus 

A bitter ending! Fate like a hound 
Snuffing the track of the doomed one. 

Ariadne 
Fate's wings quicken. 

Dionysus 

Fate driveth us both, 
Both to the end appointed. 

[He cries to her. 

O woman! 

woman, give me thine heart! 
Give me the whole, for lacking it, 

1 hold thee phantomwise. 

Nor touched thee when compelling. Thy 

heart. 
Woman, thy heart! Take back thy kisses. 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 145 

Take back thy lips, withdraw thine arms 
That clung and cradled me! 
Thy heart! Canst thou not understand 
How God must spurn all flesh that hath not 

soul, 
Yet weary of soul unwarmed by flesh, 
And anguish in his realm for mortal love! 

[He is very near her, but she holds him off. 



Ariadne 

Touch me not again, for I have sinned: 
Dark days are come. 
Sin being done, I know where 'tis paid, 
The debtor ruthless, the debt acknowledge. 
For I was delicate, being with child. 
Therefore I die. 

[The Chorus in great desolation. 

Chorus 

Must we die, Dionysus .? 

Dost thou leave us, O God, in our misery .? 

Dionysus 

Ariadne, stay thou patient for me. 
I go to Artemis. She will hear. 

In Delos, in the sacred sea. 

Of virgin harbours, shores untrod, 



146 THE AGONISTS 11 

Unsoiled and flawless as her birth, 
Where Leto Hghtened of her load, 
And never woman hath dared he-in, 
Nor dog set foot — in Delos holy 
Among the trees that bear no fruit, 
Aisles of plane, birchen groves. 
Ilex deep, there sober-lipt 
Artemis sister of high Apollo 
Has pure worship. Thither now I 
Will urge with pity, anon return 
To my love — to my love. 

Ariadne 

Lord, leave me not! 

This place is full of voices. 

[Dionysus vanishes as she speaks. 

Chorus I 

Gone! He was, and is not. 
This was a God. 

[The scene darkens. 

Chorus II 

With him the Hght is gone. 

Ariadne, in deep dejection, has sunk to the ground 
and buried her face in her knees. The Chorus murmur 
their despair. 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 147 

Chorus 

Where is there peace, 

Or where the land unstruck by God ? 

Where shall the wounded fly, 

Or in what covert lie 

Unvisited by his rod ? 

There is no peace at all! 
Our robe of beauty is a pestilent blight, 
God-given in our despite 
And set Hke a gilded pall 
To cover leanness, and hide corruption out of 
sight! 

[One points seaward and cries out. 

Chorus I 
Succour from the sea! 



More snarling. 



Chorus II 

Or spite 

Chorus III 



As a gathered squall 
Drives o'er the azure of the main 
And with his mantle enwrappeth ships, 
Now Cometh with hasty steps 
A stranger to bless or ban. 



148 THE AGONISTS n 

Chorus IV 
His eyes are haggard with fear. 

Chorus V 
It filleth the air I breathe. 

Chorus VI 

Hush! Speak him fair. 
Hush! Lest he hear. 

[An Athenian Sailor enters the scene. He salutes 
Ariadne. 

Sailor 

Hail thou, that dost raise thy head 
Above thy women, as queen of them. 

Ariadne 

We greet you fairly, with service due — 
Washing of feet, clean raiment, bread 
And wine; then help with your burden of 
speech. 

Sailor 
No help for that, lady, that you can give. 

Ariadne 
Rest here, then speed the better. 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 149 

Sailor 

Like a ship before the wind 
I drive before shrilling fear. 

Ariadne 
Make this your haven, O friend. 

Sailor 

My haven! I have but one. 
I seek him here. 

Chorus 
Seek whom ? 

Sailor 

Heavy with news I seek 
The son of ^Egeus. 

Ariadne 

Aha! 
My Lady Hymnia, thou strikest.? 
Hast thou me ? Hast thou me ? 
Is thine arrow notched ? 

Sailor 

What pain 
Wrings her to this grief? 



150 THE AGONISTS n 

Chorus 

Thou crownest her sorrow. 
Thou seekest her master and lord, 
Who late abode with us, and then sailed 
In a swift ship for the outland. 

Sailor 
The King is gone ? 



Went he out. 



Chorus 

A king's son 

Sailor 
Whither away ? 

Chorus 

I know not. Hounded he went 

By a God that breathed in him fever 

And fury and thirst for blood. 

Sailor 
Double woe! 

Chorus 
Tell thy tidings. 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 151 

Sailor 

The yearly tribute we owed to Crete, 

Which hke an issue drained our manhood 

And left us poorer and yet more wan, 

Was floated on our sighing 

Its full three moons of anguish tense; 

Yet never answering sail hove up. 

Or black as winter, or white as flowers 

That foam the uplands in spring. 

For one or other waited Athens, 
Seeing that Theseus, grieving for her. 
Himself the goodliest, himself did offer 
To staunch that wound. And thus he left it, 
That if he prospered, home to us 
Speedy would come, whose white sails 
Should flash our joy; but if harsh fate 
Adjudged him dead, his mourning ship 
Should cloud the day with a black sail. 
Black as our hopes. Such pact he made. 

Now when so long a time was past 
Rayless, the King, fear gnawing him. 
Strenuous in prayer, himself the priest, 
Long files of oxen, files of goats 
Slaughtered daily, and sluiced the altars. 
And after tottered, drunk with his fear, 
To where the citadel, white to sea, 
Breasts the liquid wonder of blue. — 
There king iEgeus, the old, the venerable, 
Winter-white, daily stood 



152 THE AGONISTS ii 

Among the elders, older than any, 
And saw the dawn redden and fire. 
The sun rise burning out of the sea; 
Saw him anon swim over Athens, 
Drowsing among her sleeping hills; 
Watched and waited; then saw him slope, 
Clothe with purple the bosomed hills. 
And violet night steal down, with stars 
Gemmed in her curtains, and the young moon 
Stare acold on the muffled sea. 
Wonderfully still. Waxt she and waned, 
And new days broke; then a new moon 
Silvered the frosty girdle of earth: 
Then an ominous day. 

Stood up before the altar King JEgeus, 
Poured wine upon earth, oil upon wood. 
Set-to the torch; the sullen wood 
Hissed Hke a tangle of snakes, and died. 
So the Gods knew not, smelt not, nor felt 
The thigh-smoke, nor their nostrils with 

blood-reek 
Were filled that day — for ere new flame 
Caught the wood, one came and knelt 
And cried to the king. The ship is here! 
We went, he, ^Egeus, blenching for fear, 
Winter-white, and took up station 
On the sea-ward wall. He bared his eyes. 
Wandering and blue, to sea; and each 
Bared eyes and lookt, and lo! as a cloud 
Besmircht, black on a flawlesss sea, 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 153 

Out some ten cable swayed a ship, 

Black as death's jaws, and flapping heavily, 

Dragging the mast, a soot-black sail. 

He gave no cry, nor wailed at all. 
But stretcht his arms out unto the ship 
As clamouring what it bore; so straining. 
Fell piteous down to ruin and death 
Over the sheer, and all his blood. 
His golden blood, pock-markt the earth. 
Thus in his full of days died he. 
Old iEgeus, and Athens mourned him long. 
As kinsfolk mourn housefather and lord. 
But when with oar-thresh came that ship 
To land, our woe was rent by laughing 
For news of Theseus at hand! who'd sent 
Swift heralds of grace; but in his joy 
Made mad, let sUp the promise given 
Of message by sail of white or black. 
So all this dule had wrought his people 
And worship quicker than he could covet 
On him, on Athens and her men. 
Whom yet, with vow to break no bread, 
Nor clip my locks, nor anoint my body, 
Seeking, I cHmb the unageing sea. 

Chorus 

Seek him not here; here is no room 
For hope or joy to have dominion. 
For he is gone, and left his troth 



154 THE AGONISTS u 

A shredded rag on a bush of thorns. 
To rot in air. 

Sailor 

Went the king out 
With all his pomp, with his bride and her 
maids ? 

Chorus 
The King went alone in the keen ship. 

Sailor 
But swift returning will claim the bride. 

Chorus 

Nay, surely. A God constrained him 
To what (in men) were knavish work. 

Sailor 
Under what God then, went he ? 

Chorus 

Even Dionysus, the young, the wild, 
Whose breath tormented all his force 
So that he twisted under the stress of it, 
And muttering murder, shagged and red, 
Flung whence his honour lay moaning. 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 155 

Sailor 

Now by that God, by Theban rites, 

And mystic chorus round his altar, 

Some fate hath sealed your eyes, and 

marred — 
For to me all is clear. 

Chorus 

Declare it. 

Sailor 

O never the Theban men forsaketh 
At this their season of sacrifice 
With holy proffer of tragic song. 
Intoned speech and charged dancing; 
Rather, beneficent, full of cheer. 
Wakeful, watchful is he. He therefore, 
Weeping our wretchedness, bare estate. 
Forewarned the hero of instant need; 
But after when, the storm bypast, 
Athens grows ruddy, smiles thro' tears, 
Him will the cheerful God send out, 
And bring to port with beckoning wind 
The Cretan bride to rule his household 
And share his state. See ye to this. 
That Theseus when he come find love-looks 
And sweet subservience, the wife's good 
part. 



156 THE AGONISTS 11 

Chorus 

Thy words are honey, they drop as wine; 
Wisdom inflames them; they shine true! 
O lady, mend your sighing! 

Sailor 

Perverse, 
As one dismayed, with knotted hands 
And hard-rimmed eyes — What is this for 
cheer ? 

Chorus 
New hope hath struck too sudden on her. 

Sailor 
This is a wider wound, not healed. 

Ariadne 

Anguish can have no stay, 

Seeing I gave it life. 

Nor cease till I cease. Pain, 

Repentance, sharp reproach: 

A time for dreams, and a time 

For dumb expectance; a time 

For tears that come not — then She, 

The Bright, strikes hasty her stroke. 

iEgeus falleth. One more — 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 157 

Another victim, from Crete, 
Must pay the forfeit of debt. 

perjured, that could not watch 
One hour! Her eyehght burns! 
There is one end for me. 

Chorus 

The end is at hand, and the ship awaits. 
An end in Athens, thy husband's arms. 

Ariadne 

1 have done evil, a thing of scorn, 
A nameless thing, a thing of shame. 
Pasiphae taints my body. 

To win me this end. 

Chorus 
Alas, grief hath frozen her heart! 

Sailor 
Keep high your hearts at least. 

Chorus 
Listen her moan. 

Ariadne 

Stern law hath Artemis. 
Now in her eyes ruin I read, 
Ruin remediless! 



158 THE AGONISTS n 

Chorus 

O madness which we wrought, 
O blind desire possessing! 

Ariadne 

Peace, O ye women, lured 

By craft of mine, and misled 

From sunny Crete, from the shrines 

Of your Gods, from your fathers' halls, 

From the kindled hearths, and streets foun- 

tained and leafy — 
Peace, this evil is mine! 
O pride, now art thou mockt, 
Faith in man's arms! Praise, thou wert 

vain! 
Mockery shoots his lips. The rain 
Beats on the waste, mockery rings on the 

plain, 
Crying, O Fool, O Fool! and O Fool! 

again. 

Chorus 

O breath that her mother gave her! 
O mother's breasts that she sucked! 

Ariadne 

There was no end to my pride. 
The strong lay prone before the light of my 
face — 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 159 

Treasure for virgin there! I threw it aside. 
Glory in Athens beckoned; I saw the Hned 

ships 
Thick in port, the shore white with a host 
Of welcoming faces; songs on all lips, 
Flowers in all hands, epithalamic; the grace 
Of matron's estate, holy wife, mother holy — 
All, all mine! But I threw them aside. 



Chorus 

O leader of virgin chorus, 
Virgin no more! 

Ariadne 

Then I was lost! 

Athens was lost, her king snug in my womb, 

My new womb filled with a king — lo! my 

offence 
Greater than any sin under the sun. 
That a mother should barter her child, starve 

her breasts. 
Starve her eyes of the light 
Of eyes that never should see it! 
Where would ye have such a woman tossed ? 

Chorus 

O love of Hving! O souFs eclipse! 
Cast her adulteress, perjuress! 



i6o THE AGONISTS n 

Ariadne 

Hell is the end, the gray 

Whispering vales of the restless dead and 

acold 
Thrill to attend my soul. 
Hades that grim old king 
Fretteth his gnarly hands on the knops of 

his throne, 
Twisteth his mouth awry, and his pale 
Heavy-eyed Hstless wife, from the uplands of 

Enna 
Ravisht for his delight, 

Feeleth her chill blood stir for my coming in. 
This is my end — how else would ye pay the 

sin .f* 
Would ye crown with a golden harvest such 

deeds. 
Look for a blossom after the bhght ? 
Black-hearted, how shall my fruit be white, 
Or how reap figs where ye sow the thistle 

seeds ? 
I have no crown, but instead 
Reproach for garment, a shroud 
Of curses thick as the blind snow-cloud: 
Death unhallowed among the happier dead — 
Death for me and the babe I have never fed. 

Chorus 

For end of sin are madness and death. 
Shame, an ungarlanded tomb. 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS i6i 

Ariadne 

This is the end of sorrow, for here 

I lay me down, aching for ease 

Where ease never can be. 

I, the King's daughter, ragged in shame, 

Seeking to hide her name; 

Calling upon the seas 

To fall over her and drown her legend in 

water! 
I, the King's daughter, 
Daughter of Minos, ancient of God, and of 

her 
The burning woman, Pasiphae, cursing, 

accurst. 
Whose sin Heaven shuddered to hear 
And Hell stood silent. She may never be 

clean. 
She must drag her sin as a chain. 
Show her robe with the crimson stain; 
She must wring her hands, utter her wailing 

cry — 
"I was lovely, I loved, I was false, and I dare 

not die!" 
Let me die. Goddess; less dare I live! 

Chorus 
Ai! Ai! She is beside herself. 

Sailor 
What can the end be but sorrow.? 



i62 THE AGONISTS n 

Ariadne 
Tarry ye here — all is not done. 

Chorus 
What more for sacrifice ? 

Ariadne 
There's that to offer the Goddess will have. 

Chorus 
Thou hast poured thy Hbation. 

Ariadne 

She had it, but shall have now 
A new libation, a cleaner flame. 
Tarry ye here. 

[She goes swiftly into the grove. 

Chorus 
As mist she goeth! 

An old saw teacheth. Be not over bold, 
Nor seek too much. Content thee in the 

mean, 
Thou shalt hve smoothly. O thou Queen 
Whose warning finger guarding the lip. 
Whose sinewy limbs stript bare for work 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 163 

Show thee, how hardy, yet withal 

Forearmed with circumspection! Thou 

Couldst teach us whose hot blood 

Springeth, a mounted flood, 

Prompt for all turbulence, 

Fretting at bars, leaping them, rushing on 

To ruin sooner than hold back! 

Service is freedom! Chidden reins, locked 

hps. 
Proud high heart, proud bent head, stayed 

word: 
Having these, men were lords of the earth, 
For lordship of all is his who is lord of 

himself. 

O proud and patient! O fire of the chaste! 

O flame 
Of lovehness meek and mute! O modestly 

wise! 
O passion of love in bond! O bosom kept 

down 
By folded arms and strait girdle! The Gods 
Have no more lovely, no more delicate 

flower 
In all the hedged garden where God is the 

sun. 
And the flowers God, self-begot of his own 

pure beam! 
Thou that servest and waitest, inherit the 

earth ! 



i64 THE AGONISTS ii 

Sailor 

The worst of fortunes be averted ! 

Why tarrieth she ? What would she there ? 

Chorus 

Go thou and seek her. A fear is on me. 
God with a God may strive, air choke 
With peaHng battle! 

Sailor 

Ay! for the Theban is doughty, and She, 
The Arcadian, swifter than wind. 

Chorus 

Our little garden plot 

Is wasted with thunder, all the flowers 

Hang black. They die amain. 

So it must be when God wrestles with God. 

The powers of darkness and light, 

Powers of Earth and Heaven, powers of sea, 

Strain, lash in tumult of war! 

Sublime above. King Zeus, 

With motionless eyelids, setteth his gaze 

To some quick-burning star 

And lives its life, as He lives ours. 

So throbs in his work the craftsman! 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 165 

O stranger, go thou, seek for her! 
Seek her, the king's daughter. 

He goes without more words. There is a long 
silence. They hear his cry; then pray. 

Dorian Crete, whose breathing is prayer, 

And daily task a sacrifice; 

Whose acts are thanksgiving of the thought; 

Crete, where Heaven's lord. 

The Thunderer, nodding o'er the world, 
Lay for a space, gathering the threads 
Of all his lordship — Dorian Crete! 

1 weep for thee, I know the word 

Is past that never these eyes shall see thee. 
O Crete, in this hour I weep for thee! 

[They see the Sailor coming through the trees. 

Ah! thus her peace is made. Sisters, 
This is the end. 

[He comes in carrying the body of Ariadne. 



Sailor 

Peace! for ye stand 
Facing the dead, in this gentle thing. 
So! shroud ye, Hft your dirge. So, Ufe! 
So, breath, that scarce grew thinner for thee! 
So, Hght, that grew the gladder! 
Life, breath and Hght together 
Quenched and drowned, quenched and 
drowned! 



i66 THE AGONISTS ii 

Chorus 

Ai! Ai! my joy, my darling one! 

niggard fate of thine! 

Sailor 

This is so piteous, even God, 

1 think, would stoop and sorrow. 

Chorus 

God rideth his wild way. 

Whose onset may be trackt 

By wringing hands, by hopeless eyes! 

Sailor 

Power goeth in God; Love hath no place, 
But only majesty, iron law. 
That cow to subservience — so here. 
What can ye do, poor women ? 

Chorus 

Know 
Our children happy, being less than God, 
In that they cannot wreak such woe. 
Let God be mighty; but let man love! 
And loving, be happy in spite of God. 

They compose her for burial, close her eyes, cover 
her face; then lay her in the midst. 



II ARIADNE IN NAXOS 167 

Our meagre life affords 
A time to sin, for tears a little time; 
Thereafter, when the mower whets his scythe, 
We do confess ourselves to be as grass 
And bow us down to the sward. 
Yet who shall put unhappiness in this, 
Or who, when so much travail hangs thereby, 
Crave an immortal home ? 
For while we live we love, and, loved, 
Hold Hfe a sceptred fee. 
But the Gods love not, neither die, so live 
Wretchedly, not as we! 

O sterile Gods, banned by their own disdain. 
Almighty, vacantly great. 
Starved, pitiless, unpitied, feared and 
shunned! 

How shall man dream or how declare 
The chill remoteness of God ? 
Who may envy Him the dearth 
And silence of His abode ? 
Love is light of our darling earth — 
But bleak His kingdom and bare. 
Where man goeth lowly in his mirth. 
Loveless and sunless goeth God. 



Ill 

THE DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 



THE ARGUMENT 

King Minos, driven from Crete, seeks refuge from 
tempest in Sicily, the realm of Cocalus his enemy. At 
the same hour comes Hippolytus, son to Theseus and 
Antiope, driven into exile by the thwarted desires, now 
turned to hate, of his stepmother Phaedra, Minos' 
daughter and last of the great House. She, too, half- 
repenting, is come to win him back if she may. Thus 
Minos and Theseus, Crete and Athens, meet once more 
in their children. 



PERSONS 

Minos King of Crete. 
Chorus of Cretan Priests. 
Artemis. 
Phaedra. 

HiPPOLYTUS. 

A Messenger. 

The Scene 

A rocky coast, near Agrigentum; a cliff looking over 
the sea. On either hand a steep path leads down to the 
sea-beach. The time is afternoon of a winter's day. 
The sky is clouded, and a fitful wind makes the sea 
unrestful. The waves break upon the beach. The 
sound of them is heard throughout the action, now 
furious, now lulled. 



THE DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 

Minos speaks the Prologue. He is figured as an old 
man in black robes. His beard is long and grey. He 
walks with a staff. 

Minos 

Darkness gathers, and boding of storm 
Upon my ways; unfriended 1 go 
In a waste land, full of eyes watching, 
Of foemen ambushed, beset by the sea, 
Barred and bastioned by the high rocks 
Whereout looketh no issue benign 
To herald peace, with gleam like a shaft 
Of amber, low in the sky in winter. 
Shock upon shock, the sea's wild armies 
Throb at the cKfFs; and I stand here 
An old man exiled, lost to honour. 
Power or the homage of the just — 
I, who was Minos, the friend of Zeus. 

The just know me no more, nor have 
known 
Since Anger held me, and Malice and Clamour, 
Snarling tenants, entered me in 
And bayed me mad, that I bit at Crete; 

173 



174 THE AGONISTS m 

And she, putting up both her hands, 
Feared and shrank: then great in vain! 
I, friend of Zeus, was great in vain! 

They smelt the spoil from afar. The 

Achaian, 
Hungry Megara and her hordes 
Flocked like birds that search the watery 

leagues 
For wrack; and the fickle sea. 
Once a broad cincture to hold us inviolable. 
Staying, bowing herself before us. 
Forbad them not. As a dark cloud 
Of evil birds, attendant on death, they 

gathered, 
Watching sideways, eyeing us up and down, 
Blinking, waiting the death-grapple 
Of Crete and me, till Zeus should yield me; 
Which done, they hovered, settled, and 

feasted long. 

So sagged, so fell the goodly tower 
Of all my honour. Renowned Crete, 
Dorian Crete, whereof I was. 
The which I was, cast me out 
Empty-handed, and stood to see. 
With estranged eyes, vacantly, how I past 
Bent to my yoke of shame; so we took 
Ship, and the sea looked wildly, and bared 
Defiant teeth which hissed upon us 
Three days, three nights of fitful weather — 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 175 

Veering winds, countering currents, and 

snaps 
Of flying foam, cold in our faces; 
And then a lull, and a stupor of calm. 

Anon sang in the shrouds a great wind. 
And Heaven was black, and the mews rested 

not. 
Wailing, drifting about us. The storm 
Leapt sudden upon us, rain in the van. 
Driven as mist. A howHng wind 
Tore up the sea; the sea in torment 
Writhed in that clutch, and bare for birth 
Mountainous water, swift ruin, 
A swerving death-floe, a smooth pit 
Wherein lay ravening death, with fear 
Cresting the wave's wild head. I saw 
The lightning flare to the rim of the water 
And bodying clamour, lap in one sheet 
Of flame the world. Therein we drave 
Two days, two nights, numb to the heart, 
With eyeballs frozen, rigid hands, 
Blencht, horrible lips, and made this coast 
Spied through the flitting rain, this coast 
Of low grey shore thundering in surf. 
Wet rocks, a line of wind-bent trees, 
A long white shelf of beaten water. 
Wherein a haven; wherein we dropt 
Panting. But Zeus the unrelenting 
Turned now the other edge of his blade 
To score our hearts; for what the sea 
Had hungered in vain, Cocalus, the King 



176 THE AGONISTS m 

Of this waste land, grudged, and drew sword 
To front me, King and Hero, and to prevail. 

The Chorus of Priests, robed in grey, has entered 
the scene, has built a rude altar of stones and lit a fire 
upon it. And now they walk round about it, invoking 
the Genius of the land. 



Chorus 

As to a mountain holy. 

Peaked in blue trembling air, 

Anointed by the glory of the sun, 

Faltering and slowly 

I lift my aching eyes 

To this vague land that lies 

As a proud Queen to see her day-work done. 

Breasting the southern glamour, and slaves 

the north 
To fan the tresses of her heavy hair. 
And with her stretcht-out hands draws east 

and west in one. 

For rest I search thine eyes. 

For rest I heed thy voice 

Calling among the water-brooks of easeful 

things. 
Cool are the winnowings 
And full of solace when the sun-glare dies 
The play of thy great wings 
Across the thick of dusk with hidden noise. 
So on the heart of night, 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 177 

Beneath thy serious eyes. 
Wrapt in the silver Hght 
About thy head that Hes, 
Lulled by the mysteries 
And soft low breathings of thy still delight, 
Let me faint out of strife where sleep is 
death's surmise. 

Surely, now surely succour cometh in. 

Surely is paid the sin 

And past the burden of night! 

For here in milder air 

The fading day smiles meekly, a kinder death 

Than threatened us beneath 

The crave and hunger of the sea. 



Minos 

Well may ye lift your hands! 

For what availeth man before God ? 



Chorus 

Nothing, O King, in this pass. 

Swifter than hounds he singleth the wrong. 



Minos 

Evil on evil — do I not know.? 
But do the Gods hear ? 



178 THE AGONISTS m 

Chorus 

Prayer they hear, strained hands they see, 
Smell sacrifice. 

Minos 

Now let them hear 
Me, Minos, in my last throe — 
Me, Minos, dying a king. 

He goes to the altar and, taking incense, casts it on 
the fire. A cloud rises. 

Artemis, hear me now! 

Thee, chaster than blown flowers, 

Holiest, I invoke. 

By that smooth maid of thine, 

Arethusa, that here in this land 

Kept her raiment unsoiled 

And fled the ravisher, here to hide 

In Ortygian rocks her sinuous grace, 

I cry to thee. Lady of Lakes, 

Lovely upon the Mountains! 

If ever sacrifice duly 
Were done in Crete, or piety 
Of offering paid and taken; 
If with the dance, the paean. 
Or finked chorus of maidens, all 
Robed in the saffron defightful to thee; 
If ever one life, or one death 
Made thee one sin's amends 
Done in heat; if one sire 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 179 

Held marriage-vow, or one wife 
Were holy; by honourable youth, 
By age venerable under thine eyes; 
By all such deeds and well-doers 
I claim thy mercy. Not now forsake 
These thy servants who stand 
By me in perilous hour. 
Artemis, hear thou me! 

Chorus 
A worthy wora of thine, proudly spoken! 

Minos 

I know in whom I believe. 

She, being proud, misliketh not pride. 

Chorus I 
I know it! 

Chorus H 

Nay, speak low. 
She whom thou soughtest is here. 

The Goddess Artemis appears out of the altar- 
smoke, clothed in silver, shining to the feet. Minos 
covers his face. The Chorus lift up their hands. 

Artemis 

Few thanks, O Minos, from me to thee 
For my fair land blight-bitten, and growth 
Of weeds, thy planting, on clean tilth. 



i8o THE AGONISTS m 

Or service of honour and sweet breath 

Made foul and unacceptable. 

Herein offending, take thou thy wages. 

For what shall profit the song of priests 
Gross to the lips, or incense burned 
On shameful shrines ? I, Artemis, 
Delightful in worship of white hands, 
How shall I praise thee who had Pasiphae 
To wife, Pasiphae rotten with sin ? 
I praise thee not, nor for her sin's brood, 
Minos, be sure; for sin must breed 
A spawn of sin, and she who polluted 
My house with shrieking, sent thine to death. 

By thy offending was I offended 
With Crete, my garden; thanks to thy fault 
Never was sacrifice duly done, 
Nor offering paid, nor taken, nor ever 
In dance took I pleasure, or paean 
Or linked chorus. Nor could one life, 
One death make me thy fault's amends — 
For he must pay that runneth the reckoning. 
Therefore no sire, careful of vows, 
Shall salve thee careless; nor Cretan wife 
Holy, make holy Pasiphae; 
Nor youth be lovely, nor age venerable 
While thine makes clamour to God. 

Claim no mercy of mine, Minos, 
But make thee ready. Ariadne, Androgeos 
Paying thy debts, Phaedra remaineth — 
To do what she shall do, to pay what she 
must. 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS i8i 

Until in her quench the kindled fire 
Of its own surfeited, flagrant course. 

Shall I praise then thy house, Minos ? 
I praise it not, nor thank thee. 

Chorus 

O fierce and cold! O Lady of Snows! 
Burn us not so with thy frosty eyes! 

Minos 

That which is done is done. On my head 
Be what cometh. I stand upright. 

Chorus 

Pride is oft-times a shield; but not here. 
In deep waters what shield availeth .? 

Minos 

A man can see the scope of his eyne, 
Guard the strip of soil that he seeth. 
And guess the morrow — when morrow 
cometh. 

Chorus 

The household's father is as a god: 
As the belled sheep leadeth the flock 
foUoweth. 



i82 THE AGONISTS in 

Minos 
Your weakness then is my added sin! 

[He turns him to the Goddess. 

Hearken, Lady, to him whose quiver 
Is empty, and he left mockworthy! 
Hard have I Hved, fought, spent — if well, 
Let Zeus remember; if ill, then Zeus 
Shall trig the balance, and Nemesis 
Raving abroad, cut me down, I saying, 
'Tis well done! But let her be speedy, 

strike 
Fair and true. Dally not. Huntress. 
Let Minos the King die in arms. ., 

Chorus 
Tempt not God! 

Artemis 

This was a man! 
Heed me now, the Bow-Bender, 
Queen of the Winds, the Waters, the Hills, 
The Open Country and quiet places 
That He pure from the taint of men. 
Because thou goest with fear unacquainted, 
And who will save his life shall lose it. 
And who fling it careless, he shall reap — 
This is my word: there swayeth one Hfe, 
Dear to me, caught in a flood. 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 183 

Of passion — not his — which if thy House 

save, 
That act shall save thee. Yet if it fail, 
Seeing thou art old, and undimmed thine 

eye, 
Take thou this further grace. Thou shalt 

die, 
Minos, but die in arms. 

Heed well this spoken word, nor think to 

amend it. 
A man's sin only himself can shrive. 

The image of the Goddess fades, and the fire dies 
down. 



Chorus 

Mystery! The King is alone, 

A stranger treading a strange land. 

No son remains to him, none of his line 

But Phaedra, queening in Athens. And she. 

What shall she do, in a strange land .? 

[Minos sits and broods. 

In the dim fields of time. 

Ere yet were cities in Crete 

To blossom their hundredfold; 

Or when as yet were not the stablisht towns, 

Cnossus nor Gortyna; 

Nor yet to the Twelve Gods given 

The soothful homage of rhyme — 



1 84 THE AGONISTS m 

Squarely stood upon earth, raftered with 

goodly beams, 
The house that Minos the King 
Reared for his high-got race, 
Sprung from Zeus that sendeth the thunder 

down! 
Fair was the hall for guests, the greeting they 

gave 
Fair, and the sending, how it was blithe and 

brave! 

Sing now the deeds of the Bull* 

That bore Agenor's meek daughter 

On the sheer bulk of his strength 

To the chalk cliff in the dark blue water! 

Pasturing Phaestos was glad, and sang 

The hills at the wondrous birth 

Of the sons of the son of Cronos, Sarpedon 

mighty of girth, 
And Minos! Minos, the searcher of hearts, 

judge of the earth ! 
How was the house goodly for feast and 

sleep; 
Who shall tell the foundations, for they were 

deep! 

Laughed all the land, for the ships 
Gathered the spoils of the sea; 
Tyre yielded her increase, the cities of old, 
Ophir and Zend, paid tribute; Egypt that 
lips 

'Zeus. 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 185 

First the frontal of day made offering due 
To the Pride of the sea of the sea's first- 
fruits ! 
High on a throne graved in the face of the 

rock, 
Set to the sea and the caved sky and the ships, 
Judged the chosen of Zeus, Minos, Searcher 

of hearts. 
Shall the pride of the house ever be full. 
Or ever fall down the tower of the Sons of 
the Bull ? 

Thrice nine winters, nine summers, did he 

doom for our Lord, 
He, Minos, famiHar friend of King Zeus. 
All wisdom, all knowledge were his, all force 

of the sea. 
Poseidon that shaketh the land held him for 

friend ; 
He was dreadful, he knew no end! 
But tell of the end of Britomart, white- 
shouldered maid. 
Of Sarpedon the end, of Daedalus, cunning 

of hand; 
Of Megara what hath he made .? 
Nay, but Pasiphae, blood-tressed queen, let 

me sing, and her deed without name! 
For woe brooded over the house, and 

stealthily came 
Darkness, and rending apart, and wailing, 

and shame. 



i86 THE AGONISTS m 

What shall wisdom avail, 

Or knowledge profit a man ? 

How shall Peace go abroad 

To smile and plenish the land. 

Where Love is not, but Lust? 

Lust drieth to dust; 

Sin enters, and pale 

Care doth hanker, and Trust 

Shivereth, falleth to fail. 

Pasiphae! Out! She sinned and fell down 

Clogged in the mire of her shame; 

Swift Androgeos, leaping for battle, fell, and 

so fell 
Sweet-bosomed Ariadne with love on her 

lips. 
Alas, who of them all remaineth to tell ? 
Dwindles the pride of the house that was 

forceful and keen. 
The wild nettle blows where proud lilies 

have been! 

Chorus I 
One remaineth! 

Chorus H 
Cometh ! 

Chorus HI 

To battle with death! 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 187 

Chorus IV 
What is thy thought ? 

Chorus V 

I know it! 

Chorus VI 

Phaedra is near. 

Chorus 

Phaedra resteth, of ruinous beauty, white 

with desire! 
O gloomy, ravenous eyes, 
O hair black as the plumes of night! 
Phaedra, of smouldering eyes 
Fired with the mutter of fire, 
The burnt mouth of desire. 
And writhing fingers of fever and fire! 
Phaedra, of snake-black hair 
And searching face of a wolf! 
Lo, a scalding drop of Pasiphae's blood 
Hissed on the white of her flesh. 
And gave her a thirst never to tire. 
Phaedra, Phaedra, lo, for an end of song! 
To the house she resteth alone for ransom or 

wrong. 

Minos 

What sing ye of Phaedra, my last flower, 
The last flower of my marriage-wreath .? 



i88 THE AGONISTS m 

Chorus I 

By tingling blood I know her here 
In this empty land. 

Chorus II 

Is she here ? 
The red dawn's issue cometh to pass. 
Listen ye to the mourning wind. 

In a pause of listening, the wind is heard shrilling. 
The shock of the waves increases. 

Thro' the gates of the storm, 

Down the mass'd battalions of air, 

Full of the whistling fear 

Wherewith it shaketh us, 

Phaedra coming with swiftly seeking eyes, 

And the grudge that never dies! 

Phaedra comes swiftly up the path from the shore, 
and stands at the edge of the cliff, looking at Minos, 
who sees her, but gives no sign. The Chorus hail her 
with a wailing chant. 

Phaedra! Pasiphae's child! 
Alone on the torrent of fate — 
Thee now Judgment and Vengeance await. 
Stained with the stain that defiled, 
The spot, the smirch and the stain 
Of a spurned love bitten wild 
To torture of pain! 

O marr'd visage, never to gladden again. 
For never can be forgiven the soilure of 
love; 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 189 

On the soul that sinneth must fall wrath 

from above 
Till the debt be lain. 
Phaedra! Phaedra! Lo, for an end of 

song, 
See in the low clouds warping the land 
Phaedra, last of the Cretans, at hand. 



Minos (muttering) 
I see her, Phaedra, once my child. 

Chorus (watching the two) 

As when two lions on the waste 

That sudden meet, dare not forego 

The grudge they owe, 

And greet not, neither eye each other, 

But stand awaiting the fate 

That works askance in the mind — 

So here of royal race the sire and whelp 

Stand grimly cognizant; nor passes between 

Their lockt Hps one All hail! or Blest art 

thou! 
O storm-beset! O driven apart! 

[Phaedra has now approached Minos. 

Phaedra 

With no rejoicing, nor memories. 
Nor leap of nature to nature do I, 



190 THE AGONISTS m 

Queen of Athenians, greet thee, Cretan — 
Once king, now exile under a ban, 
Journeying no more surely nor gladly 
Than I. Am I so sure or so glad ? 
Death-bound art thou; and I, fate-bitten, 
Drive where I must, by passion urged. 

Minos 
An ill team hales thy car. 

Phaedra 
A darker evil flogs the steeds. 

Minos 

Woe on our house! The air is thick 

With hurrying clouds, and wave leaps wave, 

Emulous which shall gulph the ship! 

Chorus 
Hark! the Erinnyes riding the storm. 

Phaedra 
Madder the storm that screameth within. 

Minos 
Better meet death, and so end all. 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 191 

Chorus 

Look to it, ye! The Goddess revealed 
A way to escape Pasiphae's debt — 
O sin-dabbled, wreckt Pasiphae! 

Phaedra (stung) 

How say ye, slaves, that speak ill of a queen 
To me a queen ? 

Chorus 

I stand in a case 
Where ancient wrong stares horribly. 

Phaedra 

Go to! Where fate drives, sin is not. 
Necessity doth bind us. 

Chorus 
How shall be named her deed ? 

Phaedra 

Out, dogs, that spurn but the fallen — 

Jackals yelping a lion's track! 

Dead is that queen that nurtured ye 

With kindly offices, in and out, 

A mother to your tribe! 

She is dead, she is dead; and her fault. 

Irresistible, sudden, 



192 THE AGONISTS m 

Dead too, atoned by death, 

And shame which is death in life. 

Shall not the Gods give over ? And ye. 

If they rest, shall ye not give over ? 

A trip! And your tongues a-wagging! 

Reproaches of you, vs^ith mud, not blood 

In the veins! (To Minos) And on you 

shame. 
King once, and nov7 a slave 
Whipt by your slaves! 



Minos 

O Phaedra, 
Peace with the dead! And on us 
Be peace if thou wilt; for thus Artemis, 
Gleaming white from the heart of the fire. 
Spake even now: If my house save a Hfe, 
That act saveth me, thy father, and thee, 
Last of my line. Peace now to the dead. 
And to the living an end of strife. 

[Phaedra reflects, and then speaks suddenly. 



Phaedra 
Rehearse that word of God. 

Minos 
Tell her the doom of the Goddess. 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 193 

Chorus 

Thus and thus uttered She 

That haunts the fallows when days are young, 

And is discerned in the wind of dawn: 

"Trembles a life beloved of me, 

Swayed in floods of riotous breath. 

Not his breath — which if thy house shall 

save. 
So shall the act save thee and thy house." 

Phaedra 

Here is a marvel, worthy of wonder! 
Such life have I to pluck from the grave; 
Such have followed over the sea. 
Resting not, staying not, ever pursuing. 
Courage then, falter not, be not afraid. 

Chorus 

Thou that art last shall be first, 
Ransomer of thy land! 

Now therefore boldly unto the Reaper stand 
With entreaty and prayer washed over thy 

hardy eyes. 
That he yield, ere the king dies, 
And we die! 

Phaedra 

Ye! Nay, not ye. 
Such as ye God strikes not, 



194 THE AGONISTS m 

But leaves to rot and return 

Into the mould. But such as have force 

To dare him he strikes. Me ere long, 

Hardily daring, he well may strike, 

If I, counting the price. 

Dare all for one crown of joy. 

The man liveth yet whom your Goddess, not 

mine, 
Regardeth — Hippolytus, son to my lord, 
Whom to sin once I tempted. 

Minos 
Thou temptedst him .? 

Phaedra 



Ay, for I loved. 
Minos 



Treachery ? 



Phaedra 

Traitress sooner 
To a man than a God. Eros with a torch 
Set the fire to my heart; and the flame 

leaped. 
Enkindled the brain, made me cunning. 

Minos 
Thou toldest thy love ^ 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 195 

Phaedra 

I whispered it 
By night, in words that tripped each other. 
And in my palms my nails drew blood; 
And in the sockets my eyes were dry. 

Minos 
And he ? 

Phaedra 

He was very still. 
He trembled. But when I touched him 
Turned, white and fierce, upon me. 

Minos 
Phaedra, what then .? 

Phaedra 

In my chamber, 
Padding the floor, up and down. 
Fighting thro' dark which beat like hot waves. 
Opening, shutting fans of madness, 
I spent the night and the day. 

Minos 
Phaedra, what then .? 



196 THE AGONISTS m 

Phaedra 

All my love 
Seethed like gall. Loving I entered 
The chamber, hating came out, 
Craving him cold as once the heat. 
I compassed his wreck. 

Minos 

How? 

Phaedra 

His father, 
My husband, I sought, with cozening words 
Writhing, coiling about my tongue. 
Of violence offered me by Hippolytus. 
He curst his son, drave him abroad 
Out of the city, out of his lands; 
Prayed Poseidon, the Earth-Girdler, 
Boon for boon, that by all the thanks 
He, God, owed him, mortal, 
Requital swift on the youth Hippolytus — 
MaHce of the inconsolate sea, 
Chill death on the sea-beach, 
Unhallowed — here, not in Attica, 
Lest death unconsecrate smirch that land 
And curse the invoker of cursing. 
The which achieved, soon I repented; 
Loving again — him now I am come 
To save, to succour, to see. 
Let Artemis joy — and Hve thou I 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 197 

Minos 

Save him, daughter; but save thyself. 
'Tis thou art the slave, not I. 

Chorus 
O dark-browed queen, look not so fatal! 

Phaedra (to herself) 

A bitter seed in my heart's croft 
Sows sharp discord. My fair dreaming 
Shattered hes. I must renounce 
All I builded so high. 

But he will come again, 

My beloved, and needs 

Must look on me. He will scorn me, 

Yet I shall see his eyes! 

Minos 

See him not. But cry to Poseidon, 
Confessing thy fault. 

Phaedra 

To see him I came — 
To see him once more — to speak with him 

— touch him! 
Once more to touch him! 



198 THE AGONISTS m 

Minos 
Thou hatest ? Or lovest ? 

Phaedra 

Love — hate — are they not one ? 
I need him — he draws me — all my body 
Acheth for him. Ah, Gods, give me ease! 
I die, Gods! I burn! 

Chorus 

See hov^ her passion tears at her! 
See w^here her palms have clencht 
The dark blood wells and spreads! 
O fatal seed of Zeus grafted in her! 

(To Minos) 

But thou, thus worn and weariful. 
Withdraw thyself a space from wind and 

storm. 
Watchful that mercy break the dark clouds 

thro', 
Streaming like pennons of the issuing day. 

Phaedra 

On me reclined, seek we the tents. 
Whence, thou asleep, I'll work for all. 

She withdraws Minos from the scene, leading him 
to the tents. The storm is now high and fierce. 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 199 

Chorus 

Her pride shall be as a tower 

To endure for a day! 

But the tide riseth, the waterfloods leap, 

Poseidon shaketh the reins; all the deep 

Groweth hungry and grey — 

Then at hand is the hour! 

See, like a bleacht dog-wolf 
Outmastered by his whelp, 
Timorous goeth the King, in doubt, 
Bending before the fury he bred. 
And her feverous calm. 

O of all punishments the worst 

And hardest to be borne. 

To see himself distorted in her soul! 

O sharper than the thorn. 

Than aloe-spike more resolutely keen, 

Unendurable scorn. 

That he who sinneth once 

Cannot thereafter sorrow and do well. 

But sows a fatal seed 

Of shame where might renew honour's old 

citadel. 
Herein, methinks. Fate urges hard. 
And flinty the heart of God, 
Since man to sin by necessary force 
Drifteth, nor can retard 
The swirling pit that sucks him deeply down 



200 THE AGONISTS m 

To death, where Fortune guides his neigh- 
bour's course 

To equal unearned glory and reward. 

But harder yet the scourges of the rod, 

That not content with death 

Nor the labour of choked breath, 

Brandeth his seed till the tide of woe be 
run! 

Chorus I 

Give over, give over, I hear the tramp 
Of horses, the groaning of wheels! 

[They look to the shore below. 

Chorus II 
Lo, a traveller headeth the gale! 

Chorus III 
His cloak is a banner, sport of the wind! 

Chorus IV 

He holdeth his spear that the fury may not 

prevail, 
Nor shake his well-knitted limbs. 

Chorus V 

He scorneth to look behind 
At the wide ruin of foam. 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 201 

Chorus VI 

And see! He beareth for crest 
The Sphinx winged and fierce. 

Chorus I 

Tender of years, Athenian, nobly born; 
Poseidon he holdeth in scorn — 
That setteth the look of a hawk to the storm 
And smileth at ease. 

Chorus H 

This, this is he, that should earn our sur- 
cease. 

HippoLYTUs drives his chariot up the steep road 
from the shore. The Chorus hail him. 

Chorus 

Hail, O King's son, that lightest on the 

weary! 
Hold — that thy light depart not those that 

grieve. 

HiPPOLYTUS 

If king got me, no king calleth me son. 

Chorus 

Yea, but I know thee sprung from the 
Amazon, 



202 THE AGONISTS m 

From battle-breathing Antiope, 
And Theseus, tamer of men! 
Thou Sun-anointed, begot of splendid wed- 
lock, 
Thou nervy hunter, Hippolytus, 
I know what gloomy fate 
And hoarse envious breath 
Urgeth thee on to abjure 
Thy pride of estate! 

Hippolytus 
What I must bear let my shoulders suffice. 

Chorus 

Nay, surely some blessed God 
Favours thee! 

Hippolytus 

Still I serve — 
As once in life, now in death. 

Chorus 

Often the Gods seem harsh, and man 
Driven thereby to riot. 

Hippolytus 

Shall a man, then, impoverish himself? 
If God sink, man may stand upright. 
True to the God he has made. 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 203 

Chorus 
What God thinkest thou to make ? 

HiPPOLYTUS 

I make but of that which I find, 
Elemental, veined in the earth: 
Here fleeting kindness, grace of tears, 
And here swift flight to a mark; here 

patience, 
Long watching, service pure, glad eyes, 
Clean limbs; rejoicing; giving of thanks — 
For of such I think God is. 

Chorus 

Thou thinkest! 
Stricken to exile, cursed by kindred! 

HiPPOLYTUS 

Unjustly stricken, wounded sore, 
I hold such nothing to my loss. 

Chorus 
What hast thou lost, Hippolytus ? 

HiPPOLYTUS 

Faith. 
Faith in the earth. How should ye know, 
Who know not my search, my empty soul 



C 



204 THE AGONISTS m 

Anhungered ? Oh, I Hved tranquil days 

In the deme where Athens feels the sea 

Smihng towards her, in the cleft 

Between the hills' breasts, seamless of scar 

Or jut of rock; between the hills 

Where hides the temple of Artemis, 

The Huntress, Delian-born. 

I lived there tranquil in wind and sun, 

Tanned by the wind, by sun made ripe. 

To growth in service chaste, since I 

To the chaste Goddess was dedicate. 

From my youth upward. Tender I made 

Of body and mind, yet saw her never. 

Nor knew — yet felt her there in the wind, 

In morning glory of sun, in moonlight. 

In whisper of leaves and sighing breath of 

the pines — 
But saw at last. 

Like the wind's spirit. 
Like the wind's spirit in open lands, 
A young wild maiden, with hounds astrain. 
Stood in the wood, and looked and wondered. 

White shone her shoulder in the still wood- 
land. 
White her knee under green kirtle; 
Peering she stood, astart Hke a bird 
To flutter of leaves. Swift then a smile 
Rayed hke a morning flush upon her. 
Sunned her serious gaze and met me. 
Worshipping there with beating heart. 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 205 

I saw the blue beam of her wide eyes, 
Her carven throat and still raiment; 
Whispered her name, as now I do. 
Lifted hands, made my thanksgiving: 
"O thou miracle, spirit of pure breath, 
God be thanked for the glory he made in 

thee!" 
I loved a Goddess. Never since then this 

world 
Held a woman for me. 



• Chorus 

Thou servest well. We of Crete serve her. 

HiPPOLYTUS 

I had served unknowing; now served I on 

With reasons for my praises; 

Adored her when sun smote the sea's cold 

rim 
To sudden fire; in the moon's fair phases 
Made faithful tender of sober days; 
Gave her the breath of wholesome life, 
Guerdon of body, guerdon of mind. 
Worship of limbs; for thus 
She will be served that loveth in us 
Prepossession that foileth sin. 
So I waxt strong, and with strength too 

praised her 
Till that day dawned that I may not name. 



2o6 THE AGONISTS m 

Chorus 
Ah, but I know it! 

HiPPOLYTUS 

O pool of sin! 
The fair woman df^secrate; 
Lust in love and lust in hate! 
Bright breasts with milk of gall, 
Fierce lips that would suck all 
Honour out, and kissing find 
Honour in the unclean mind. 
Phaedra, child of Peitho's brood. 
Bred this cancer in my blood; 
Made love unlovely, unmirthed mirth. 
Garbed in scum the daedal earth. 

Chorus 

O greater horror than this hour! 
Speak on and fill the cup of this wrath. 

HiPPOLYTUS 

I, curst aHke of Gods and Father — 

When he that did beget me 

Held me the traitor they perjur'd me. 

With curses thrust me out, and charged 

Poseidon to make an end — 

Not slow to meet him, now call on death. 



m DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 207 

Chorus 

The storm thickens and grows! 

The spears of the army of death, 

Bare as the wild boar's teeth, 

Gleam for their glutting of blood. 

Soul of a God, grudged by God, to thy foes 

Abandoned, and shame beneath 

The licking and suck of the flood; 

To the rage of the wind that blows. 

And the fear that grows! 

HiPPOLYTUS 

Nay, I am ripe for death 
Whom Love hath despised. 
My soul it hath agonised: 
What should my body fear ? 

Chorus 

O son, wait still upon Love, 

For he dwelleth here; 

Tho' see him ye may not nor hear 

Even the lilt of his wings. 

He hovereth near. 

HiPPOLYTUS 

Yea, for within me sings 
A clear voice, saying, Fast 
Take up heart, for at last 



2o8 THE AGONISTS m 

Lighteth Love upon earth — 
And thy torment bypast. 

Chorus 

Love is near to the birth: 

Soon Hke the morning star 

He shall guide thee where gardens are, 

And fountains of sweet water, 

And an end of war. 

HiPPOLYTUS 

Maybe the swift daughter 

Of Leto, the girdled, the pure, 

Artemis eager and sure. 

Will snatch me that served her ever 

From Hades' allure. 

Chorus 

Thou shalt 'scape the fret and the fever. 

Thou that art white! 

Thou shalt pass in the night 

As the worn soul from the breath of a man, 

And the end be light! 

Let her forget thee not! But hold. 

Let her defend thee; for Theseus' wife 

Cometh with evil on her brows 

Ridging them straight over her waiting 

eyes. 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 209 

O full of injuries! 

O thou that holdest Crete 

In the throes of thy forceful hands, 

Phaedra, look to the saving that lies 

As a spell, as a wonder-stroke, 

Mute, till thou bid it rise! 



HiPPOLYTUS 

Hold ye; nay, withdraw yourselves rather. 
For the issue is mine, and is now. 

He descends from his chariot, and stands to meet 
Phaedra. The Chorus prepare to withdraw. 



Chorus 

A dread encounter, fraught with fate! 

Lo, in this injured one. 

Under death's eyes, our life; 

And she who drew him within their dreadful 

scope 
Must save, or all must perish! 
Come, let us pray awhile 
With hands uplifted to our patron Gods: 
Guardians of Crete! Artemis, Pythian 

Apollo! 

They withdraw to the back of the altar. The wind 
blows furiously. Phaedra enters, battling against it. 
She stops when she sees Hippolytus; then comes 
slowly and stealthily forward until she is close to him. 
Her movements are those of a leopardess. 



210 THE AGONISTS m 

Phaedra 
No rest! I have no rest. 

HiPPOLYTUS 

What dost thou seek ? 

Phaedra 

Ease. 
I am tormented. I follow thee. 

HiPPOLYTUS 

To see the end ? Trust Poseidon. 
Hark to him now. 

Phaedra 

O what has death to do with thee ? 
Grey death — and thy sanguine life! 

HiPPOLYTUS 

Drained of honour, 'tis wan. 

Phaedra 
Honour! Thou hast it. I give it thee. 

HiPPOLYTUS 

Thou .? 



in DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 211 

Phaedra 

Power is honour. 
Minos dieth; Crete falleth mine. 
I give thee Crete. 

HiPPOLYTUS 

What canst thou give ? 
Peace, let me die. I ask nothing of thee 
But that. 

Phaedra 

To wrangle I came not. 
Rather to sue. 

HiPPOLYTUS 

As master of slave, 
A goad in thy hand, woman. 

Phaedra 

not to add a curse 

To those thou lightest I come! 
But to redeem thy life, and mine, 
Self-martyred by reproach not tolerable. 

1 do repent, Hippolytus — 
I would repair! Give me 
Thy pardon! 

HiPPOLYTUS 

Peace, let me die. 



212 THE AGONISTS m 

Phaedra 

Thou hast prevailed and mastered me! 
I will keep peace, and thou shalt have it 
So but thou kiss me. 



HiPPOLYTUS 

Kiss thee ? 
Forgive thee ? Why should I not ? 
Consecrate, I, to death; see nov^ 
1 kiss thee. Queen. Be mother of sons 
That shall be kings if thou learn queenship. 
Pass to more honour, and I to death 
More smoothly, since purged of anger. 

[He kisses her. She shivers, then dings to him. 



Phaedra 

Not thy bright blood, O lord! 

Nor death if I could encompass thee 

So with my arms, so with my mouth, 

That we twain might fly clinging together, 

Conjoint in bUss! Or if death must be 

In wait for the twain, let us heap up 

Our Hfe-draught full, passing in swoon, 

Contented that one wild joy 

Hath crowned our thirst and left us filled! 

[He rejects her. 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 213 

HiPPOLYTUS 

Away, away! 

Seek not again to sting in my wound, 

Nor add one shame to the marks I bear. 

Phaedra 

Thou kissedst me! By the Paphian's fire 
And all her flames, leave not thou me! 

HiPPOLYTUS 

Now, by thy brows benign, 
Artemis, bend down thy face to me! 

[Her arms are about him. 

Phaedra 

See now, my lips are a pasture-ground, 
Mine eyes, see, they are brimmed with love! 
See my cheeks, are they fresh ? Is my side 

cool ? 
Is here a blossom worthy to pluck ? 
Treasured for thy strong harvesting, lord! 

[He sees her not, nor regards her. 
HiPPOLYTUS 

O thou foolish, insensible, 

Whom worm hath bitten, and made 

Within thy heart his cancerous nest, 



214 THE AGONISTS m 

And seared thine eyes, and blotted the 

world — 
Learn of the wreck thou hast made of mine, 
Of that fair garden, once my world! 

When thro' thy deed I first blasphemed 
The cradHng Hght that held us both, 
Scared to panic, o'er land and sea. 
O'er sea and land and sky I ranged, 
Crying in empty realms of the air, 
"Thou Spirit of Life, appear, be seen! 
Kill me, but openly; let me see 
Thy fair cruel face, that I once knew kind!" 
The blue stared, and the naked sun 
Pitiless cut my eyes. The blood 
Masked them, that thro' the film flared red 
The very sky; so I knew, not there 
Dwelt he, but only hatred and strife. 
God was not; but only Enormity. 

Then in my pain I turned to the hills, 
The lonely mountains, whose gazing peaks 
Climb out of ken and bathe in the silence, 
Of old how lovely! But out of them 
Love spake nothing. An eagle screamed 
Above a lamb leagues under him; 
And the rock stared with sightless eyes 
On murder brooding. I dared the front 
Of lapping mists, quiet as the snow. 
Where vast in th' obscure I saw dim forms. 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 215 

Saw gleams rending the dark — heard the 

crying 
As of great storms, and pent-back seas 
Imminent with ruin and bulk of death, 
Not coexistent with Love, nor coequal. 
I shrieked — Where such terror may be, 

seek never 
For love! Seek the earth — and fell my 

length 
With buried face in her breathing breast, 
'Mong flowers and clinging grasses, swept 
To and fro by the wind. Then slyly 
Came lust to leer — out of thine eyes. 
Woman! and rent the earth amain 
To an open grave, still yawning for me, 
Filled with the rotting bones of love. 
Murdered. I sought the calm of the sea: 
Poseidon, couching in mantle grey. 
Turned me from all his laughing places, 
Where the sun sheds a welter of gold, 
Or the wide water sways in sleep. 
To face dismay of rocks and scars. 
Where dominion is to the snake and the weed. 
And tangles drift; to oozy places 
Where the sun comes not, nor freshet tide. 
Not healing breeze with morning in it; 
But all's a bloat and scummy growth 
Of wrack of spent ships, wan dead men. 
Smooth-lidded traps of unmanly death! 
Treachery lurked there, watching. I paled 
And crouched, saying, Love is not here! 



2i6 THE AGONISTS m 

Then where is Love ? Ah, thou hast killed 

him! 
Thou and thy vice! Go, sin no more, 
Lest I say, God made thee, and lust is God. 

Phaedra has withdrawn herself from him, and now 
covers her face. 

Phaedra (low) 

O cruel, O harsh, inexorable 
Mis-handler of women! How do I sin 
When I lift fading eyes to the light ? 
Is it a sin that I seek to live, or a sin 
That youth calls clear unto youth ? O heart, 
Shall spring wither, and summer go. 
Boon autumn, with corn-sheaves in her arms, 
Pass, she too, looking down ? So all 
The rout of the years, the flood-tide of Hfe 
Course by us, bowed like grass to the sickle ? 
Not that, Hippolytus; love was given 
To us for fruitage 

Hippolytus (aside) 

I see in the woodland 
My Goddess, pure in the white Hght 
That rays at even from the first clear star, 
In still, high-girdled raiment! 

(To Phaedra) 

But thou — 
Thou mangiest love as thou hast me, 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 217 

With flesh-hooks raking his crimson wings 
Down from the sky ! Wilt thou rob God ? 

[She straineth towards him. 



Phaedra 

I am distraught, my breath comes thick, 

Mine eyes are a scalding waste of tears; 

Fever eateth me: see, I fall down, 

I fall to thy feet. Hippolytus! 

Shame me, do with me as thou wilt — 

Phaedra the queen, thy dog! 

Spurn or misuse me — let me be with thee! 

Hippolytus 

I pray for you whom frenzy enters. 

For you whom craving possesses and tears. 

Phaedra 

Kiss me again — ah, but thou shalt! 
I have thy hand in my wasted hands — 
I cling to thy knees — I clasp thy chin! 
Stoop now, kissing me once! O Gods! 
I would spend all the glory of Athens 
That this tall youth once kiss my mouth! 
Lay thy proud lips on mine, Hippolytus, 
I anguish for them! 



2i8 THE AGONISTS m 

HlPPOLYTUS 

Off! Thou art foul7 
A leprous woman and poisonous. 
I shake thee off. Go, drag thy shame 
Where cleansing waters are. Taint me not. 

Then he spurns her, and she recoils, and rage gathers 
in her, and breaks. 

Phaedra 

So! 'Tis enough. Then, sick self-lover, 
Go thou to death, a craven soul 
That watches a woman shame herself, 
And gathers credit from each poor shift. 
Ah, but thou heartenest me for this work! 

I could have saved thee, lulled the curse 
Pronounced upon thee and stooping for thee, 
The cold and curse of the sea, the malice 
Hid in the rocks, with death, 
Pale Death and Disaster on the watch. 
I would not save thee now; I would stand 
And watch the spilling thy traitor life, 
And laugh with clamour of shrill sea-birds 
Sure of a feast. Nay, listen and tremble! 
I invoke Poseidon, the storm-dweller, 
And all his horror: white sea-squalls 
That creeping cast their frozen shrouds, 
Gulfs of wet ruin, crested waves 
That race and ride each other in haste; 
Let these tear thy carcase as the teeth 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 219 

Of rocks; suck thee under the traps 

And shelves of rocks, that gaping fish, 

Slow, blind monsters of soundless seas, 

Crawl groping over thee. Nor rest then! 

Let the unstaying sea give thee, wretch. 

No stay at all, but toy with thee 

In mock perpetual of ebb and flow, 

Thro' tumult of black and stormy nights. 

Through listless, long and idle days, 

Till weed and scum, sickening of thee, 

Bid bhnd worms fret thee to a rag; 

Cast thee unhonoured, not sought, forgotten, 

A loathing to thy foes, a burden 

To that which gloated thy full of shame — 

Dung for the spawn of tideless beds. 

Hear me, thou Ancient of the Sea, 
Poseidon! Pale-eyed Thetis, hear! 

[HippOLYTUs sets a foot on his chariot. 



HiPPOLYTUS 

O woman, that dost rail to ease thy rankle 

Of shame and scorn of thyself; 

Thou that seekest to add 

A pain to the pain I have lived. 

What dost thou think of death ? 

Think'st thou he makes his bed in a thicket 

of spines ? 
Nay, but his ways are quiet; 



,x 



220 THE AGONISTS m 

He dwelleth in fragrant places 
Of sleep, full of dreams, husht by murmuring 
pines. 

Look now, Phaedra, slave of desire, 

I have trodden the mire 

Of envious days; I have called upon God 

To turn the light of his face. 

No sign! Heaven was black. 

And black the mantle he laid upon earth. 

Nothing for me spake of love, who prayed. 

Then I fell back 
From the chase, saying, Curst from birth! 
That, seeing, I might not know, 
Not hearing, discover 
The flame of that Spirit that broods and stirs, 

and is love! 

Yet I know the hour is at hand when that 

fairest, that flusht 
Presence of God shall be here, to enfold us 

and lap us 
In a soft haven of solace, a beam of his light 
Shed on faint souls from the dawn. For I 

know 
Love, the King, liveth unseen, yet unheard, 

not felt. 
But to be known of men when the way shall 

be lit 
By the torches of God, now hidden from me ! 
So I die well at ease, for behold! Love is 

in me, enshrined, but not known! 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 221 

I that was formed to be of Love the lover, 
To sing his praises, now seek surefoot death. 
Seeing that other issue is denied me. 
The gleam I joyed in quenched and dark. 
Ho, now, Poseidon, have thy pleasure of me! 

[He mounts his chariot and gathers the reins. 

Phaedra 

Go, scorner, of the voice of women crying, 
Slink thou, accurst from birth, to death more 
sharp. 

HippoLYTUS drives his team down the path to the sea. 
The Chorus come forward and watch him from the 
edge of the cliff. The storm is at its height. 

Chorus 

Pride sitteth on his brows as on a throne. 

And he goeth, splendid, alone. 

By the foam-shattered, ruinous waste of the 

shore. 
The sea is mad, and shudders beneath 
The knees of the mighty one. 
Even Poseidon that holdeth the reins. The 

sea gnashes his teeth. 
The way Hes withered and frore: 
Yet the hero urgeth him on. 

Phaedra 
Not for long! 
Hardly shall sea hold off so much as a span, 



222 THE AGONISTS m 

For Poseidon watches and waits. 

Hear ye the mews ? They are hoarse, they 

wheel as the Fates 
That hanker the drowned eyes of a man 
And the tossed soul of him too! 
So let him weary of watching, and lo! when 

manhood abates, 
He shall tire, and they in a throng 
Scream, and hover, and pounce! 

Chorus 

The wind raveth, I hear the shuddering 

trees ! 
Now it buffets the crest of the flood ! 
The sea is amazed, distraught; yet the knees 
Of the terrible rider have grip. 
The wind is his whip! 

Ho, he cutteth the water, he raises his arm 
To passionate evil: the sea is white with 

alarm — 
As a flogged horse, he showeth the whites of 

his eyes! 
Now, beneficent Gods, help ye, arise 
Ere the hero dies! 

Phaedra 

Vain your crying; the Gods are throned in 

the skies; 
Haply they feast. Poseidon only is here. 
Taking his sport! 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 223 

Lover, he, of the storm, and sudden shock 

of a wreck, 
The smooth, water-drowned deck, 
And ship reeHng to port, 
Tossed, buffeted, trapped, dereHct, 
With her wan sailors arow! 
Haste, Shaker of Earth, let his end be quick, 
Let his end be now! 

Chorus 

Lo, he is well on the way 

And urgeth mainly the steeds 

O'er the water-swept beach! The gale 

maketh them swerve; 
They are restive, they sway; 
The tide races on — reaches — he's down! 

Nay, nay! 
O might of iron-cast nerve, 
O King, thou'rt a King this day 
For heroes to serve! 

Phaedra (not looking) 

What, does he linger yet. 
Outcast, spurned of women and Gods ? 
Do the waves still fret 
To be at him and raven him down ? 
Surely Poseidon, brooder of tempest, nods. 
Or the sea surgeth in vain! 
Hark to the battle above us — the sky is in 
pain! 



224 THE AGONISTS m 

Hark to the thunderous billows, the sweep of 

the rain, 
Hissing as rods. 
To beat to frenzy the struck flank of the 

main! 
Tell me now, what canst thou see ? 

Chorus 

The foam is flung as a mist, the land is washt 

out: 
Nothing! The sea-beast is loose. 

Phaedra 
Yea, for I hear him and join in the shout. 

Chorus 

Woe! Woe! look about, look about! 
W^ave upon wave, fury fury pursues! 
Now all is clear. I can see. 

Phaedra 
Hippolytus, where is he ? 

Chorus 

The sea is upon him, about him, above — 
The green billow hangs curving in air — 
All the eyes of the sea are angry and bare! 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 225 

It hangs quivering, mountainous, tossed — 
Heu! It falls — he is lost — he is lost! 
Horses and man sweep out, to death and 

despair! 
O queen, a hero, went there! 

Phaedra 

Lo, for an end of him, scorner of love! 
Lo, Poseidon, conqueror! Masterful sea! 
Lo, Phaedra, triumphing, queen to the end! 
He cast me below him, and even below is he. 

[A pause. 

Hark to this clamour, than storm more shrill. 
Who cometh crying .? 

Chorus (looking landwards) 

With fear-fanned eyes, 
As one that's looked on havoc, he comes 
Beating his way through the horsemen of 

air — 
A Cretan! Speak, we are Cretans. 

[A Messenger from the tents comes in swiftly. 

Messenger 
The King! King Minos! 

Phaedra 
Tell what thou hast of the King my father. 



226 THE AGONISTS m 

Messenger 
He was thy father. 

Phaedra (lifting her head) 

King of Crete! 
Now, Gods, ye mock me! I seek him out. 

[She goes out to the tents. 

Chorus 

O ever dreadful, sudden in haste — 
How like a cloud she scourgeth on 
With black hair flying, and thin hands 
Raised up to tear the light. Speak thou. 

Messenger 

The old King slept. 
But murmured in his sleep, and stirred, and 

woke. 
Saying in cold fashion, "The end is nigh. 
Bring ye my harness." So we did, and he. 
Raising himself, did do on bronze and leather. 
Set his great helm with nodding crest 
Upon his head, his sword to thigh. 
His sceptre took, and lightning-charged 

shield. 
And sat enthroned, as he were judge for Zeus 
Once more in Crete. So silence fell 
Wherein no man durst say him anything; 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 227 

Nor did he speak. 

We heard the tramp of men, 
The creak and groan of chariot-wheels, 
And panic fell on all, except on Minos, 
Set mute and cold above the bed 
With never glance or stir. They burst the 

doors, 
A horde of shagged, fierce-eyed and sullen 

men. 
Hungry for prey. But Minos sat still, 
As carved in marble, a frozen king; 
And no man spake nor moved. Then, 

when the storm 
Seemed at its high of furious possession. 
And a vast bulk of water struck. 
To shake the broad foundations of the earth. 
The pallid King rose slowly, and spake like 

death. 
Saying, "This is the Doom declared by 

Zeus. 
Evil was done; evil ensued; and now 
Evil must end." And then he sat 
Again upon his throne, and bowed his head 
Down to his two stiff knees, and stayed, and 

died — 
Alone, untoucht, indomitable. 

Chorus 

Where is thy victory, sea ? Where, death, 
thy pride ^ 



228 THE AGONISTS m 

Where, thin - lipped hate, thy pleasure in 

men's grief? 
So died Hippolytus, so Minos died. 
Meeting you, armoured thus. 
Facing you thus, they died, 
Scorning your dreadful state; 
And each victorious 
Sought out the Fields Elysian, glorified. 

Yet on Hippolytus 

Ye laid a vengeance keen; 

Ardent Hippolytus 

That kept him chaste and clean 

For sake of Her whom, loving, he could not 

know. 
Hapless his fortune was 
That seeking high and low. 
Calling on Love, Love never showed his wing. 
Nor hope could bring 
That of some far-off day the dawn would 

spring 
To show earth beauteous. 

Let us bewail his lamentable death. 
And tell his tale VN^herever youth 
Longeth and meeteth ruth. 
Let the sweet breath 
Of virgins sigh over his grave, 
The murmuring wave 

That serveth him at once for sod and funeral 
stave. 



in DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 229 

Messenger 

The sea holdeth Hippolytus: 

What can ye pay, what rite, 

Where is no corpse, nor tomb to hallow? 

Chorus 

Justly thou speakest. Seek rather we 
Our great-hearted King. 

Messenger 

Seek Phaedra first, 
Last of his house, last King of Crete. 

Chorus 

Sombre-browed as of old, 

She Cometh with convulsed hands 

And ruin scowling across her! 

O thou terrible Queen, harder than life. 

Fiercer than death. 

Look not so forceful upon us! 

[Phaedra enters now. 

Phaedra 

Minos is dead, passing a King 

With all his state about him. 

He might have lived, but is dead. 

What say ye ? The kingship falleth to me. 

Last of the House of the Bull. 



230 THE AGONISTS m 

Chorus 
Who can be King when storm is King ? 

Phaedra 

The storm that wrecked Hippolytus 
Wrecketh me not. Where ebbs your 
Dorian spirit? 

Chorus 

He shows the stoutest nerve who mourns 
Wrong done, good deeds avoided. 

Phaedra 

Let those who covet safety follow 
Their queen. Who cometh here ^ 

Artemis appears, robed now in grey. She carries a 
torch. The dusk is falling in, and the storm has abated. 

Who art thou, Spirit, walking as God ? 

Artemis 

Thou last of an iron stock. 
That thinkest to delay 
Doom by thyself prepared; 
Seeker of ill, and cheat 
Of thyself, why should I stay ? 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 231 

Hast thou not wrought woe enough ? 

Death struck thy father Hes 

Whom death of thy lust had saved: 

Is it enough ? Thy lord dishonoured, 

Thyself blood-guilty for him; 

The Seer of lovely things under the sun, 

Struck to the soul, 

Blighted by thee to see foul things in sweet 

things : 
Pasiphae's child, is this work enough ? 
Shall I delay ? 

Phaedra (awed) 

I know thee not. 
Yet do believe thou hast that strength 
Thou vauntest. I think thou art God. 

Chorus 
Artemis! Artemis! 

Phaedra 

Hear then, Goddess. By my father's soul 

I fear thee not. That which I did 

Was sown in me from my wother's womb. 

As her deed in hers. We sowed it not. 

But goaded like cattle followed the doom 

Set of old. No fault at all 

Lies in us fettered ones, swirling as vs^rack 

Upon a flood racing to sea. 

Strike therefore soon. 



232 THE AGONISTS m 

Artemis 

I make an end 
Of thee and wrangling matters too high 
For thee to stretch at. Evil and Good 
Were set before thee. Thou wouldst sup ill. 
Thou madest choice. Now get thee back- 
ward. 
Poseidon awaiteth. 

The Goddess advances, and Phaedra, as if fighting 
invisible foes, steps back and back until she stands with 
her arms extended on the very verge of the clifif. She 
sees her peril, but is careless to avoid it. The Goddess 
lifts her hand, and Phaedra with a great cry falls over the 
cliff. The Chorus describe this action in quick whispers. 

Chorus 

She edgeth backward, fending with hands, 
As one that fighteth the breath of fire; 
Hatred haunteth her eyes and shame 
Unacknowledged and undeclared! 
Ah! Ah! This is the end. 
Now she is gone down quick to the doom 
prepared. 

[They assemble themselves. 

Begotten in wrong, with wrong upheld, and 

by wrong 
Driven to outraged end, 
Lo, the portion of him who seeketh out God 
To make him a friend! 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 233 

God must abide with God world without end, 
And man cleave unto man on this mortal 
road. 

What is the Wisdom of God without Power 

of God ? 
What Power, Wisdom, without the Love 

that is only in men. 
Only for them ? Our masters have trod 
And bruised us to blood — and how shall 

Love come again, 
Since Wisdom ministers Lust, and Power 

spreadeth Lust abroad ? 

Shall there ever be Gods with love as of men. 
Or men nurse love in their hearts with 

wisdom of Gods 
And power of Gods ? 
Scourged and beaten with rods, 
Curst and hated in vain. 
Can a God-man be, lord of himself and the 

hour, 
Welding in one Love and Wisdom and 

Power ? 
Earth should kiss Heaven then. 

Enough, Goddess, enough! 

Is not the cup of thy vengeance full ? 

One by one they have perished, gone into 

the night — 
As one that travelleth far 



234 THE AGONISTS m 

They have set their faces away, 

And their place knows them no more! 

So in bad blood and hardened hearts begun, 

And in conflicting lust 

The terrible tale is told. 

Stay now thy hand, Artemis! Put up thy 

spear. 
Thou that strikest the deer! 
Smile out upon us, Maid without fear. 
For smitten to dust 
All the pomp of Minos and pride of his 

state. 
Fallen, fallen, that once were goodly and 

great; 
And all the Blood of the Bull spilt as it was 

foretold. 

[The light rays again from the Goddess. 

Artemis 

Comfort ye, for the youth Hippolytus 
Liveth, pure of his grief, his passion 
Spent — in calm of vigil and prayer. 
With me in communion not of this world. 

Deep in the woodland he hath his home, 
By the lake where no foot breaketh the 

silence: 
There I visit him, there he loveth me. 
There of each other we take our joy. 



Ill DEATH OF HIPPOLYTUS 235 

Comfort ye, Love cannot die that lendeth 
Rather than earneth. Ye Cretan wanderers. 
Follow your hope! In this high fashion 
God and Man mingle and mate each other: 

Emptied each, and each fulfilled 
By love supreme that seeketh no price. 
Here and in Heaven they set a kingdom 
Fast for ever for all ye sorrowful. 

Seek ye the ships, launch for your land. 
Homeward hie, passing in trustfulness 
Crest and furrow; holding in patience 
Your way over sea — for strife is ended. 

[Artemis disappears. 

Chorus 

This is a faithful saying! and since She 
Whom ever Dorian eyes have sought. 
And to their children taught, 
Leaveth us now with words of peace, 
Let us await the issue she decrees; 
Bowing our heads until the storm be past. 
Waiting with hope the promise of new day. 

The storm has died down. There is no wind, and 
over sea a bar of pale amber light shows, low down in 
the sky. 






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